Ashes in Our Mouths
by feanor
Summary: COMPLETE! They lived happily ever after - NOT! but then again who knows. Warning extreme Angst. Super powers, death, but hope reborn too. It made some cry! Are you up to it? If you think you are, read on... and review!
1. Exile

Disclaimer: Harry Potter, his friends, enemies and all respective items and characters (beasts or beings) from the novels and novellas of J. K. Rowling are hers by moral right and legal copyright. 

**Ashes in Our Mouths**

**Chapter 1 - Exile**

The Birdsville Hotel was quiet in the night. It had shut hours ago and the few patrons who drank at this remote watering hole in the middle of the Australian outback, had long ago left for their homes, except for a lone figure who made himself comfortable in front of the large television screen in the bar. He was there by special arrangement with the publican. His name was Nev Long and he lived on a remote property out in the bush some 500 kilometres from even this remote outpost. Once a year he came to town, if you could call it that, to watch a satellite broadcast of the Quidditch World Cup. In the years after the war, with the wizarding world no longer able to hide itself from the rest of the world, the Quidditch cup had gained a large enough general following to be broadcast on muggle television networks. It was Nev's only luxury in this hard life he had chosen for himself. He had no friends, no family and lived by himself in one of the most remote places in the world.

So it was a surprise when he heard a voice behind him that he recognised even after all these many years.

"So this is where you hide!" the dragon said.

"What are you doing here?" Nev said with the rage plain in his voice.

"Looking for the dead. You're quite macabre in your choice of aliases. First it was Dean Thomas in Europe, then George F Weasley in America and now in Australia, it's poor dead Neville Longbottom's name you have stolen." the dragon sneered.

"What I call myself is none of your business." Nev replied bitterly. He was going to have to move again just as he thought he was far enough away to avoid anyone finding him.

The dragon sat in the chair next to him, "What game are we watching first?" he asked.

Nev stared at his enemy with deep hatred and replied "South Africa verses England."

"Don't get your hopes up. England's a shower this year." The dragon said casually.

And so they sat there through the night watching game after game. Exchanging comments and observations and insults. 

"Is it just me or do these guys seem to be flying at half speed?" Nev asked in the middle of the last game. "I could fly twice as fast as that back at Hogwarts."

"That's part of why I have been sent to find you." the dragon replied and he pulled a letter from his pocket and held it out to Nev.

Nev knew that neat small handwriting on the front of the envelope that simply read "Harry". He took the envelope and opened it. He read the short letter and then crumpled it up. "You could tell her you never found me." he said.

"I could," replied the dragon, "but I won't. You owe her."

Nev hated that it was true. No one had any call on him in the entire world except her and now she was calling that debt in. He had to go back. He owed Hermione that much at least.

"Alright Malfoy I'll go!" Nev replied.

The dragon was surprised hearing the name he had given up years ago but he merely nodded and returned his attention back to the game. It had been long years since he sat with anyone to watch Quidditch games. And if it couldn't be a friend, which neither of them had, well perhaps an enemy was the next best choice. "That wasn't a penalty! The refs blind!" he growled at the screen.

"You're the one's whose blind." Nev said back. Now that he had made the decision to go back, the weight he'd been carrying for years felt a little lighter.

In the morning after a few hours sleep Nev and the dragon walked out of the hotel.

Nev called out. "Draco, up on the back!" 

The dragon was about to demand an explanation when a mangy old dog leaped onto the back of the 4x4 that Nev drove.

"Good boy, Draco!" Nev said as he gave the dog a pat on the head. 

"You called your dog, Draco?" the dragon hissed.

"Yeah, he's a good dog but he gets a bit vicious." Nev replied smiling.

"Oh very funny, very funny." The dragon said as he climbed into the passengers seat.

They drove along the Birdsville track all the way to Adelaide where Nev found someone to look after Draco while he was away. They boarded the flight that would take them to Sydney to meet the international flight to London. Twenty-nine hours later they arrived by taxi at King Cross station. It was a little before nine o'clock in the morning of the first of September.


	2. You Know Who

**Chapter 2 - You-Know-Who**

The excited students climbed aboard the Hogwarts Express.

Four of the students found an almost empty compartment. It only had one other occupant. A man sat stretched out with his legs out and a broad brimmed hat upon his face. The students heard the snores loud and clear coming from the hat. The man was asleep.

"He's not supposed to be here! This train is suppose to be only for students." One of the boys said loudly.

"Maybe he's a new teacher. They sometimes take the train." Another replied.

"He doesn't look like a teacher to me. And anyway they won't be any new teachers, not with what is happening." The first boy replied as he slumped into the seat.

"What's happening?" one of the girls asked.

"Muggle born" the first boy sneered, "magic is getting weaker, that's what is happening."

"What do you mean weaker?" the girl asked puzzled.

"Not as strong stupid. No one noticed at first but over the last few years magic has been getting weaker. We can't do lots of things they could do years ago." The boy lectured as if talking to a child. 

What the children had failed to notice was the snoring had stopped some time ago although the man hadn't moved. Nev sat there listening.

"Why is magic getting weaker?" The girl asked.

"That is the sixty four million dollar question. There's a big conference at Hogwarts right now trying to figure it out." the boy said. 

"My dad says it's the work of You-Know-Who." The other boy said in hushed tones.

"Who's You-Know-Who?" the girl asked.

"Don't you know nothing." The boy sneered, "He's a wizard who went bad years ago and killed a whole lot of people. They say he's still around, plotting his revenge."

"Why do you call him You-Know-Who?" the girl asked.

"Because his name isn't to be spoken. It might summon him and believe me you wouldn't want that." The boy replied.

"You're just too scared to say it." Another boy teased.

"I am not!" The first boy objected.

"I dare you then, go on tell her." was the reply

"Alright, You-Know-Who's name is" the first boy said nervously "Harry Potter."


	3. Irony

**Chapter 3 - Irony**

A boy ran into the compartment. "The dragon is on the train and he's coming down the corridor." He told the others.

"The dragon?" the muggle born girl asked.

"He's bad, very, very bad. He's someone you don't ever want to meet." The boys hissed back as he moved away from the door.

"He's coming in here!" the girl said seeing the man outside stop and the handle on the compartment door turn.

"Oh crap." The boy replied as the dragon entered.

Draco entered the compartment and ignoring the cowering students kicked Harry's feet and asked, "You awake Potter?"

"What… What did you call him?" the boy asked now the colour of death.

"He called me Potter, which is my name although I haven't used it in many years. And you should always use the right name of things. Fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself. A great man once told me that." Harry said as he removed his hat from his face. The children looked into the green eyes and saw the scar on his forehead. They knew instantly who shared their compartment. 

The students sat there shaking with fear. Their worst nightmare was in the seat across from them, large as life. One boy got shakily to his feet and edged slowly towards the door. He was soon out and running for the far end of the train. One by one the others followed suit, leaving the dragon and Harry Potter sitting alone in the compartment.

"Now I am the one they fear. Ironic isn't it" Harry said bitterly, "I give up my entire childhood, watch my friends die one by one and finally defeat Voldemort and save the wizarding world and this is the thanks I get. I'm You-Know-Who now. The boogieman. The evil one destroying the world."

"What did you expect Potter after what you did, after what you became. That you would be happy? Life doesn't work like that. I know that better than most. I turned my back on everything I was brought up to believe and worked for you as a spy and what happened? As soon as the war is over, they confiscate my home and everything my family owned. Oh, they said thanks for risking you life and everything, but they still left me to starve, penniless without a friend in the world. And I left out the part where you killed my parents right in front of me." The dragon's words dripped with bitterness saved from those years long ago.

"I did what I had to. What choice was I ever given?" Harry said with bitterness in his voice. He sat silently thinking of the years of his youth. Finally closing his eyes and lying back he asked, "Why did you have to find me?"

"Because she asked me too. You're not the only one that owes her, you know. She kept me alive all those years. Helped me become a Private Auror. That's what I do. Take care of problems other people won't touch. And I'm good at it. So when she asked me to find you I did, although it took me nine months. You are the hardest job I ever had but that's what she asked, so that's what I did. I wouldn't have done it for anyone else." The dragon told him. 

"How is she?" Harry asked

"As well as can be expected," the dragon replied.

"And… Ron?" Harry asked hesitantly

"The same" the dragon replied quietly.

Harry's face was gaunt at the answer. It tore him apart even to think of his best friend.


	4. Doom

**Chapter 4 - Doom**

Word had spread through the students that the dragon and You-Know-Who were siting in a compartment in the middle of the train. The students crowded both far ends to capacity. It was a long trip but finally they arrived at Hogsmead station. The students stayed where they were hoping the objects of their fear would get off the train and go away.

"Lets walk up to the school." Harry said as he and Draco got off the train onto the deserted station platform.

"We'll have too." Draco replied, "The carriages stopped working last year."

Harry threw his bag over his shoulder and strode towards his former home.

The castle still showed the signs of damage from the war. The north tower was nothing but a pile of rubble and the windows were still boarded up on that side on the castle. As they passed the ruin of a stone hut on the edge of the dark forest, Harry stared at a bare piece of ground nearby for some time. It was the first time he had been back to the place in all these years and his attention was riveted to that one spot. It was some time before he turned back to the castle and walked towards it. Draco had silently waited knowing what had happened here years before only too well.

As they entered the castle they heard the many raised voices coming from the Great Hall. One voice rang out above all the others. "Quiet please! We have to finish soon. The students will be arriving anytime now." There was dissent in the many voices that rang out in response.

"I'd better go first and warn them you're here." Draco said without apology.

Harry waited in the entrance Hall as Draco slipped into the Great Hall.

The Headmistress of Hogwarts sat at the staff table and tried to control debate between dignitaries from all over the wizarding world. They had been in conference for two weeks and on this their final night, they were no closer to finding an answer to the greatest crisis the wizarding world had ever known than they had when they started. The dragon's entrance had momentarily distracted the arguing parties. The dragon was not what you would call polite company. The dragon ignored the looks he was given by the majority of those present and walked up to the headmistress and whispered into her ear.

"What's he doing here?" the Minister of Magic shouted. 

Hermione Weasley, the headmistress of Hogwarts rose and held her hands up for silence.

"I have sent for someone that might be able to help us find out what is happening to our world." She told the crowded hall. "The dragon has just informed me of his arrival."

"Who?" the Minister demanded loudly. 

"ME!" a voice from the rear of the hall boomed out. 

Everyone turned to look at who had spoken and the effect was electric. There stood a man just inside the doors of the Great Hall that most had not seen in over twenty years. But they recognised him by his scar and his green eyes immediately.

"Are you mad?" the Minister shouted at Hermione as the realisation of whom the headmistress had summoned to the conference went through the delegates in the Great Hall.

Harry strode down the hall with a presence unlike any other. Everyone in the room sensed the power of this man as he passed. It was not to be taken lightly. He was by far the most powerful wizard of the age and perhaps of any age. The people around him reared back as he passed. That innate fear of him wasn't lost on Harry either. If anything it had grown with his absence. The expression he wore was not a happy one. But he was not here for them, he was here for her. That's all that mattered. The dragon was right, he owed her and it was a debt he had to repay.

"Hermione, its good to see you. These are for you." Harry told her as he handed her a small bag. 

Hermione opened the bag. It was full of uncut diamonds. They sparkled in her hand, a king's ransom in value that Harry had scrapped together in his many travels.

"Harry, I don't understand?" she said. 

Harry turned to face the crowded Hall. " I only came back to see Hermione and make sure she was alright. I don't care what the rest of you think of me. I am done with you. I am going home now. Don't come to me again. You may all fear me but all I wish is to be left alone."

"Harry please!" Hermione asked. 

He turned his back on the crowded Hall and told her apologetically, "You'll be alright Herm. Once the magic is gone, those little stones will allow you to settle in the muggle world." 

"He doesn't know anymore than we do!" The minister yelled angrily.

Harry smiled demonically, "Ah but I do. I know exactly what is causing this. Magic isn't growing weaker. It is leaking out of this universe. Leaking through a tear in the space-time continuum. And that tear is getting bigger. Soon there won't be any magic left in this world." Harry laughed. That laugh echoed through the Great Hall and it held all the scorn and bitterness of his long years of misery. "And good riddance I say!" He spat at them with his anger.

You could have heard a pin drop in the Great Hall. Finally Hermione broke the silence. "Harry you have got to help us."

"Herm, I'd crawl over broken glass for you but the rest of them, can go to hell for all I care." Harry said in the now quiet hall.

"Its all rubbish!" the minister said with uncertainty creeping into is voice. "What tear?" 

"Harry, please! If you know something, tell us." Hermione begged.

"The tear in the continuum is just outside on that little bare patch of earth near Hagrid's old hut. That's where he fell. It is a hard thing to kill an immortal. That's what Voldemort was you know. Immortal. I'd keep killing him and he'd keep coming back, over and over, stronger each time. Finally the only way I could stop him once and for all was to remove him from the very fabric of space-time itself. Excise him from this universe completely. Only it didn't quite work right. There was still this little tear left after I'd done it. I was always going to fix it when I recovered from the battle but by the time I was strong enough again, you had driven me away. You feared the power I wielded, you feared I might turn into another Voldemort and with Dumbledore gone; there wasn't a wizard in the world that could match me. You all treated me like a nuclear bomb about to go off. Well when the magic is all gone, you won't have to worry about me anymore. We'll all be muggles." Harry said, his voice hard and sounding like the doom of the world.

"You can fix this, you said you could." The Minister sounding desperate said.

"Perhaps," Harry replied, "but I'm not going to. And I doubt anyone else can."

Harry began to walk back down the hall with every eye on him. He soon made the doors to the hall and was gone. In the entrance hall Harry stopped for a moment to try to push down the anger and hatred he felt for these people. They had brought back the memories he had spent years running from, trying to forget. He should not have come back. He began to walk towards the front doors of the castle when a voice called him back.

"Harry, please wait!" Hermione had come from the Great Hall alone. Her voice held all her concern and gentleness for Harry that it had always had. She had not seen Harry in many years and Harry knew she had not expected the scene that had just occurred. She had expected Harry to be willing to be the great hero again.

"You are not going to change my mind Herm. I'm sorry but I'm not going to save the world this time. It costs too much. You'll be alright with the diamonds." Harry said without turning to face his friend. He couldn't bear to look at her in the eyes and tell her he wasn't going to help. "I best be going."

"Harry, at least stay and visit Ron. He'd love to see you again." She asked.

It was what Harry had feared she would do. He hated her for it but he could not refuse her this. "Very well. I'll stay tonight and see Ron in the morning but then I will be leaving Herm. I mean it!"

"Come, I'll get you settled in the guest quarters and then I must see the others down to the train." Hermione said leading Harry into the castle. "And I must see what's keeping the students."

"That will be down to me too, I'm afraid." Harry told her as she took his arm and led him into the castle. "Seems they didn't want to get off the train with me and Draco on the platform. Guess they're still there."

"I'll have a word at the sorting. Can't have them treating the school's most famous alumni like this. It's ridiculous!" she said.

"Same old Hermione!" Harry said sounding almost cheerful. "I have missed you."

"Same old Harry." Hermione replied, patting his arm but she knew this was in fact a very different person to the one she had befriended at school all those years ago.


	5. Remorse

**Chapter 5 - Remorse**

Harry couldn't face breakfast. Not with what he had to do this morning. He waited outside the hospital wing for Hermione to arrive.

"Are you ready?" she simply said when she got there.

"Yeah" Harry replied reluctantly.

"Harry, what happened wasn't your fault. It does no good to beat yourself up over it. Just say hello. He'll love seeing you again." Hermione told him.

They went in to the hospital wing and along to the special room that had been built for Ron all those years ago. Harry went in first at Hermione's urging. Ron lay in the bed he had occupied for over twenty years. His one eye moving over the ceiling until he saw Harry. A twisted smile came to his lips on the side of his face that wasn't paralysed. 

"Hi Ron. How are you buddy?" Harry asked looking down at what was left of his best friend.

"Look who came to visit darling." Hermione told Ron as she came into the room and up to the bedside. She stroked his cheek lovingly.

Harry did his best to seem cheerful but it eventually got too much and he left. Outside in the hall he broke down sobbing like a baby.

"Get up Potter, crying isn't going to help." The dragon told him as he appeared from nowhere.

"Shut up Malfoy," Harry told him angrily. "You don't know what it's like being the one responsible for that."

"I am responsible for that too, or had you forgotten. It was my information that led to his capture and torture. And it was my information that kept leading you into traps when you tried to rescue him." Draco told Harry.

"It wasn't your fault. They were on to you as a spy by then. You couldn't know they were feeding you information that they wanted you to pass on to me." Harry replied staggering to his feet.

"I should have worked it out sooner. There were just too many coincidences, too many last minute changes by dear old dad. And all of them just what was required to turn the tables on you and the others as you attacked." Draco replied. "It is more my fault than yours."

"No, we used you to feed them false information at the start of the war to ambush Death Eaters. We killed hundreds. This was just payback. And each time a rescue mission failed as well as the casualties, they would send back a piece of him. A leg, an arm! Voldemort kept him alive as they butchered him, until all that was left was a torso and a mutilated head, just to torture me. All because of me!"

"In the end you won though. You killed Voldemort and found Weasley." Draco said.

"How does the quote go? And the fruits of victory will be ashes in our mouths. Look at us, does this look like victory to you. It doesn't to me." Harry said. After a moment of silence Harry spoke again, "I need a drink. You got any booze around here?" 

"Yeah," Draco replied and led the way to his room where a bottle of Ogden's Old Firewater whisky awaited them both. It would not survive the day. 


	6. Enemies

**Chapter 6 - Enemies**

They had been Draco's quarters for some time drinking and with each shot of whisky the pain of their lives was both diminished and enhanced. Diminished in that it seemed to hurt a bit less but enhanced in the way the past came back to them more vividly.

"I'm curious, Potter! Where did you get those diamonds?" Draco asked.

"My emergency funds, small, valuable and untraceable. I have learned over the years to have the means to move on at a moments notice. With that little bag in my pocket, I can disappear and set up again anywhere I choose." Harry told him smugly.

"But how did you get them." Draco persisted.

Harry gave a little laugh before he said, "There are certain things a wizard can do in the muggle world that let us just say are somewhat profitable. You would be surprised at how well I did in Las Vegas!"

"The great Harry Potter cheating? I'm shocked." Draco said sounding not shocked but intrigued. 

"Survival negates legal obligations." Harry replied remembering the hard times before his sudden good fortune at the casinos. The casino staff had tried everything to find out how he was doing it but had failed. A week after arriving as a down on his luck hitchhiker, Harry drove out of Los Vegas in a brand new Cadillac and with enough money to allow him to disappear again. "Oh but I didn't get the diamonds there. That was later, in Australia. I used a nuffler I had acquired to find them out in the bush." Harry continued.

"So you didn't steal them then." Draco said 

"Well, depends on your point of view." Harry replied.

"What do you mean?" Draco asked.

"I used the nuffler to find the diamonds in a remote area of Western Australia. So from my point of view they are rightfully mine. But as the area was technically a mining lease of the Ashton Diamond Mining Company, their point of view might be a little different to mine." Harry replied.

Draco sneered at Harry but there was a grudging respect mixed in for the man. "You never could resist breaking the rules, could you?"

Harry poured them both more whisky as he replied, "I don't seem to recall you being overly concerned with the rules yourself."

Harry sat back to drink his whisky. He had closed his eyes and had almost fallen asleep when the silence was shattered.

"Why did you have to kill them Potter?" Draco asked. His tone was flat and controlled but Harry could hear the intensity of the feelings underneath. 

"Who?" Harry answered in that fog of inebriation that the whisky had imparted.

"My parents! Why did you have to kill my parents? They were surrendering. The war was over and you owed me but you tore them apart as I stood there unable to stop you. " Draco's voice hung like a cloud in the small guest room. 

"They were deatheaters. They were responsible. They or others like them killed Cho and my unborn child because that son of a bitch Voldemort told them too. And how many others?" He said unrepentant for his deeds. "They deserved it."

"We all deserve it Potter! That's not the point." Draco slumped forward and laughed bitterly, "And you wonder why these people fear you. You were more ruthless than Voldemort ever dared to be." Draco replied and after a pause he continued, "they saw you for who you really were. Another Voldemort in the making, only this time with the fanatically following of the army of light. You could have taken over the world back then. You could have just reached out and taken it all for yourself. You had the power and there was no one left that could stop you!"

"I never wanted the world, never." Harry answered almost in a whisper.

Silence fell between them as they continued drinking shot for shot. 

"We were betrayed you know." Harry said after some considerable time.

"What?" asked Draco.

"The final battle! How do you think Voldemort was able to penetrate Hogwart's defences and catch us by surprise?" Harry replied quietly as he looked down into his whisky.

"Are you saying he still had a spy on the inside?" Draco was staggered. 

"No, you gave us all their spies on our side. It was the minister himself." Harry replied and then downed all the whisky in his glass.

"The Minister! No! Impossible!" Draco couldn't believe what he was hearing. "He let them in?" Draco asked finally aghast.

"Yep! Suddenly we're knee deep in deatheaters right here at Hogwarts. Three quarters of my army slaughtered." Harry told Draco. 

"But why?" Draco slurred out almost unintelligibly. 

"He feared me. I was about to win the war. As you said, I was the great hero with his own vast army loyal only to him. Not a situation the Minister and his department heads could permit to continue." Harry said. "It was brilliantly simple. They gave Voldemort a way in and held back the reinforcements till the last second. The result: my army just about wiped out and I get all the blame. And you wonder why I was a little out of control when your parents showed up to surrender!" Harry looked up at Draco to see the effect of the revelation had on Draco but it was too late. The dragon had slumped in his chair unconscious.

Harry staggered to his feet. That much whisky on an empty stomach was not a good idea. Harry looked down at the unconscious figure in the chair and said, "If I could take it all back I would. I am sorry for so many things. You were right! We do all deserve it. " And with that he staggered out of the room.


	7. Guilt

**Chapter 7 - Guilt**

Harry was throwing up into the toilet when Hermione found him. "Well this is a pretty picture." she said

"This is a boy's toilet you know." Harry responded with his head still in the bowl.

"You never worried about going into the girl's toilet years ago. Moaning Myrtle still asks after you." Hermione replied hoping to cheer him up but it didn't work. "Where's Draco?" she asked. 

"Past out in his room." Harry replied, "Can't hold his liquor!"

"Right and you can." Hermione pointed out.

"Yeah, well" Harry said raising his head from the toilet.

"Harry?" Hermione started.

"No Hermione, don't ask. Please!" Harry told her guessing she was about to ask for his help again.

"I have to, Harry. You're the only one who can do this. I don't want to see a world without magic, without hope of anything better. Not after all we gave up to protect it." she said. "Your parents wouldn't have wanted you to leave it this way. Cho and your child wouldn't have wanted you to leave it this way. They would have wanted you to see it though."

Harry turned away from Hermione when she mentioned his dead wife and the unborn child she had carried. It was at the end when Voldemort knew he was beaten. He had them killed out of pure spite. Harry never forgave himself for not being at home that day. He was off rallying the troops for more attacks, more destruction and more killing. "That's hitting below the belt." Harry replied. 

"I'm prepared to fight dirty for this Harry. I need you to see it for what it is. This is our very survival. I know they don't deserve it after what they did to you but you need to do this for yourself. You need to find completion and you never will running away and hiding from what we all have become." Hermione told him quietly but her voice also conveyed her concern for him. After all these years she was still the voice of his conscience.

Harry sat there a long time before he replied. "I'll need some time to prepare. It's been a while." And with that he got to his feet and headed back to his room.


	8. The Last Time

**Chapter 8 - The Last Time**

A week later Harry Potter stood before the tear in the fabric of space-time, swaying back and forth in sync with the magical energies flowing around him and into the tear. He could perceive the magic fleeing the world, draining into the unseen void before him. He had faced Voldemort on this very spot some twenty years ago. Then he had only been intent on ripping through the very fabric of the universe to remove Voldemort from the world that permitted him to be immortal. It was a hatchet job of shear naked force. This time subtlety was called for. In Harry's mind's eye the edges of the tear whipped like charged filaments, they were the very threads of reality and Harry needed to nudge them back into the weave that was the space-time continuum. Harry started well, nudging the first back just where he wanted. 

A large crowd had come to watch including the Minister of Magic and most of the Magical Department Heads and their staffs. People too had come to see the legend of the boy-who-lived after so many years of confusion and doubt about him. Students stood in the crowd, many with their parents. They had seen the terror of the wizarding world exercising every day, stretching magical muscles long unused. The students had seen what immense powers he wielded and they knew their fears had been in part justified. Not all of them together could hope to match this strange man. He could if he wished, sweep them aside like chafe before a hurricane. He had but to reach out and they would be doomed. 

Harry didn't though. He never wanted to rule the world. In his frustration he would think to himself 'Why can't they understand? I just want to get this over with and then find a new place to live. Somewhere where I won't be found again.' He would leave behind the names of the dead and Quidditch this time. That is how the dragon had tracked him to Australia. He wouldn't make that mistake again. Nothing would link him to this world again. He would be free of it once and for all.

He concentrated all his powers on thread after thread. He was beginning to have difficulty. As he moved the next thread into place others threads became displaced. The weave was beginning to come apart again. Harry redoubled his efforts and it worked for the weave reformed into the orderly pattern that he was trying to create. But even Harry's vast powers were not inexhaustible. He needed to regain his strength by resting for a moment and then with care he could finish the job.

The crowd watched on, only able to perceive the outward signs of the wielding of the strong magical energies Harry was sending into an area directly in front of him. To them the tear only appeared as the area that absorbed the energy Harry unleashed. Only Harry could perceive it directly. The tear appeared to have been growing smaller as Harry had worked and now that he had stopped sending magical energy into it, the tear was nowhere to be seen. It appeared that Harry had finished. 

It never occurred to the Minister that the job might be unfinished. It never occurred to him that what he did next might have consequences far beyond anything he could possibly imagine. He signalled the others that had come with him. The all drew their wands and attacked the weakened wizard. It was their best chance to remove this threat from the world, now they thought they no longer needed him.

The crowd fled the unexpected battle. Unfortunately many accidentally crossed into the path of curses meant to kill Harry Potter and they died in his place. It was mayhem. 

Harry's instinctive reflexes, even weakened from his efforts, were still a match for any and he was able to put up shielding spells of considerable strength before the first curse had even hit him. In a way though that only made matters worse. The energy of the curses directed at him spilled off his shield and hit the edge of the tear. The weave of the continuum at this weak point began to unravel at an alarming rate. Harry tried to warn them but through the carnage no one could hear his shouts. He was being slowly driven back and soon he was enmeshed in the tear itself. This made matters worse still for now all the energies directed at him where being directed into the tear. 

The attackers didn't have it all their own way. Hermione was furious at this betrayal of her friend. She had drawn her wand and many of Harry's attackers learnt the hard way just how knowledgeable the headmistress was with curses. The dragon stood by her side unleashing spells no respectable wizard would use too. But they were only two against so many. Harry saw the dragon jump in front of Hermione to take the full effect of the combined spells of a half dozen curses aimed at her. He had died saving her and for that Harry owed him. But it was only for a moment until she fell in the next volley.

Harry's rage knew no bounds and that fuelled his magic more than any rest could possibly have. He unleashed his full potential at his attackers but he was positioned in the tear itself now and it absorbed most of the explosion of energy he sent forth. He realised his mistake too late. The weave of space-time itself was unravelling. The crowd around him ceased to exist! Hogwarts ceased to exist! The world ceased to exist! The entire universe ceased to exist! All was gone in what was both an instant and an eternity from Harry's perspective. All that remained was Harry and the void he found himself in. He was racked with guilt at the cruel destiny that had led him to destroy everything! He wished for the nothingness death would bring.

Something was moving in the void, if moving is the right word to use in a place that is without dimensions or even time. Harry didn't know how he could perceive it, all that he knew was it was there. It flowed around him and through him and he knew no more…


	9. One More Time With Feeling

_(A/N: No this tale is not finished yet by a long way - Let me know what you think in a review.)_

**Chapter 9 - One More Time With Feeling**

That smell! 

That smell! So familiar. 

So many times before had he awoken to it. It was a smell he associated with safety. With homecoming. With being all right.

It was of freshly starched linen and antiseptic. Harry opened his eyes. 

Something gold was glinting just above him. He blinked. It was a pair of glasses. How strange!

He blinked again. The smiling face of Albus Dumbledore swam into view above him.

Good afternoon, Harry," said Dumbledore.

Albus? Is that you?" Harry replied looking very puzzled as his mind fought its way to full consciousness.

Dumbledore was surprised by Harry's use of his first name. But given what the boy had been through he decided not to comment on it for now.

"Yes Harry, it is me." Dumbledore replied.

"I thought you were dead." The boy replied startling Dumbledore, "then again I thought I was dead too. Are we both dead then?"

"No Harry, neither of us are dead" Dumbledore said now concerned about the boys state of mind. Had he been wrong to expose the boy to such an ordeal. "Now you don't need to worry Harry. Quirell does not have the Stone."

"Quirell!" Harry said as his eyes shot wide open.

"Yes Harry, don't you remember" Dumbledore said now even more concerned about the boys disorientation. "You were in the dungeons to stop Quirell from getting the Philosopher's Stone."

Harry couldn't believe his ears. That was decades ago, in his first year at Hogwarts. Was this a dream? He pinched himself. OUCH! As he did so he saw his hand. That was not the hand of a forty year old battle scarred warrior. It was the smooth hand of a young boy. 

Dumbledore watched puzzled as the boy in the bed studied his own hand with intense astonishment as if it were the first time he had ever seen it. Perhaps there is some amnesia involved Dumbledore thought to himself.

"Harry can you tell me what you remember?" Dumbledore asked.

"I remember everything Albus, absolutely everything." Harry said looking up at the Professor with that annoying look of knowing more than he was saying. He had learnt that expression from the old wizard leaning over him. Dumbledore too recognized that look. He had no idea how annoying it was from this side.

"Mr. Ronald Weasley and Miss Granger will be most relieved you have come round, they have been extremely worried." Dumbledore said.

"Ron! Hermione! Can I see them?" Harry said excitedly.

"Maybe later, if Madam Pomfrey permits it.

"Oh I am sure I can get Poppy to let them in." Harry said. The boy's use of everyone's first name was slightly unsettling.

"Don't you want to ask me any questions about the Stone?" Dumbledore asked.

"Oh you mean about your talk to Nicholas Flamel and he agreeing that you destroy it and everything" Harry said quite casually.

"Oh, you know about Nicholas, you did do this thing properly didn't you. But how did you know about our little talk? Have you had a vision?" Dumbledore asked growing even more puzzled.

"Kind of." Harry replied with that annoying look again. 

Dumbledore waited for the boy to be more forthcoming but he remained silent. "Well I will see Madam Pomfrey about allowing your friends in for a short visit." Dumbledore finally ventured as he got up and began to walk away.

Harry lay back in the hospital bed again and thought to himself, //How the hell did I get here?//

Had he somehow time traveled after destroying everything? Was this a dream? Was this Heaven or Hell? Was it real? He had no idea and it was a long time before he accepted that it may really be true. He was a 40 year old warrior in a 11 year old body back in his first year at Hogwarts. 

//Assuming I am really here, what do I do now?// he asked himself seriously. 

He was still deep in thought when footsteps alerted him to another's presence.

"Ron? RON!" he yelled at the sight of the red headed boy coming into the room.

"Harry, how are you?" Ron said smiling at the welcome Harry had given him.

"Harry, don't get up! You need your rest." Hermione said coming in just behind Ron but it was of no use. Harry had gotten to his feet and swept both of his friends into a hug. He laughed for the first time in many years free of the cares and guilt of his former life. 

"You get back into bed this instant or Madam Pomfrey will have us out of here in no time flat." Hermione warned in a very serious tone.

Harry complied grudgingly and was soon comfortable back in bed while his friends got chairs to sit beside him.

"What'ya crying for Harry? Does your head hurt or something?" Ron asked as he saw the tears rolling down from his friend's eyes.

Harry wiped the tears from his face and said, "I'm all right. It's just I am glad to see you look so well."

"I only got bonked on the head a bit. Best chess game I ever played that one. And I won!" Ron bragged happily.

"Luckily he's got a very thick skull." Hermione said

"And nothing inside it" Harry replied.

"Hey!" Ron objected but he knew it was all in fun.

"So Harry tell us what really happened in the dungeons" Hermione asked.

"I am not sure I remember everything." Harry said slowly, and that was true enough. After all it had been a very long time ago from his point of view, if not theirs and quite a few other things had happened since then but he would tell them what he could remember of his first meeting with Voldemort. He did quite a good job considering.

"Wow" Ron said at the end of the tale.

"Harry, do you think he'll be back?" Hermione had asked.

"Yes Hermione, Voldemort will be back." Harry said. "All too often."

Both of his friends jumped at You-Know-Who's name.

"Don't say his name!" Ron said annoyed.

Harry however was now thinking again of what he should do.

"I need you to bring me some parchment and a quill tonight. Use my fathers cloak." He told them after they had patiently waited for him to speak again. They agreed after a bit of convincing it was important.

Ron and Hermione were all too soon shooed out by Madam Pomfrey so Harry could get some rest. True to their word they were back after curfew with the parchment and Harry began to write a number of letters. He wouldn't tell them what was going on but they took the letters when Harry had finished and went to the school owlery to dispatch them.

"What's Harry up to?" Ron asked.

"I don't know but those letters were very odd. I didn't think Harry knew all those people." Hermione replied as they crept along under the invisibility cloak back to Gryffindor and their waiting beds. It had been a long day and tomorrow was the last day of school and in the evening the Leaving Feast. They were soon asleep in their beds.

In the hospital wing there would be no sleep for Harry Potter this night. He had much to think about.


	10. The Cup

_(A/N: Sorry for the delay since last posting. I haven't given up on any of my stories. Life just got a bit complicated. More to follow very soon, I promise!)_

**Chapter 10 - The Cup**

The Great Hall was filled with students for the Leaving Feast. Harry sat with his friends, happy even if they were not. Albus was giving his house cup speech. Then the bombshell as he award points to Ron, Hermione and Harry. Gryffindor had equalled Slytherin in points for the house cup.

"… I therefore award 10 points to Neville Longbottom" Dumbledore said as the Gryffindor table exploded with cheers.

"If my calculations are correct, a change of decoration is…" Dumbledore continued after the cheering had subsidised.

"HEADMASTER!" Harry shouted surprising everyone, "Sorry to interrupt Sir but this is important."

The entire Hall looked at the boy who lived. What had happened in the dungeons between Harry and Quirrel was a complete secret, so naturally they all knew.

Dumbledore paused and with that penetrating glaze replied, "Very well Harry, what is this about."

Harry rose from the Gryffindor table and strode across the Hall while stating loudly enough for the entire hall to hear "Headmaster, I wish to right a wrong I committed on my first day here at Hogwarts." 

Harry having reached the end of the Gryffindor table turned across the hall and continued to walk as he spoke. "I rejected the hand of friendship from a fellow student and that was wrong. To Draco Malfoy I offer my apology and 5 of the house points you just awarded to me.

The entire hall was dumbstruck. Harry had just given up Gryffindor's lead to Slytherin. The two houses were tied again.

Draco was stunned. He could not figure out what this was about. Why should Potter give him anything especially house points. Potter was walking in his direction and was soon in front of Draco with his hand stuck out. "Friends?" Harry asked the blond boy.

Draco couldn't figure out what Potter was up too. On that first day of school Draco Malfoy had indeed wanted to be friends with the famous boy-who-lived, but after insulting Weasley, it had all gone wrong. Now Draco had been given a second chance but was it that simple? To a Slytherin it never could be that simple. 

"It's not a trick," Harry said simply.

Draco finally decided he could not turn down the points for Slytherin to at least equal Gryffindor and he stood to take Harry's hand. What he hadn't expected was to be immediately pulled into a hug. It was a genuine show of friendship that took the wryly Slytherin by complete surprise.

Harry whispered in the blond boys ear, "Our fate is in our own hands, not our fathers. If I can ever do anything, anything at all, you have only to ask. I owe you more than you can ever know. Oh and if you are ever snotty to my other friends again, I'll give you the kick in the butt you so richly deserve!"

Harry released a confused Draco and leaving him with a smile turned to the full hall and saying, "Let both houses share the house cup this year, for we have much to learn from each other and from the other houses too. I believe a change in decoration is called for." Harry raised his hand and with a simple gesture, the Sytherin banners that were hung around the hall changed to carry the school emblem with the four houses represented. "Now on with the feast." Harry continued as he again waved his hands and the tables became ladened with food. 

The students and staff alike broke into a roar of conversation at what had just occurred. 

"Albus!" Professor McGonagall, "Potter just displayed extremely powerful wandless magic. What is going on?"

But Albus didn't hear her. The gaze of his blue eyes was held firmly by two green eyes. Harry stood for a moment looking at the Headmaster with an expression far beyond his tender 11 years. Albus Dumbledore Headmaster of Hogwarts, living legend of the wizarding world was stunned with what he had just seen in the boy's eyes. There was a power in the boy that was far beyond anything the headmaster had ever seen before and Albus Dumbledore had seen a lot. Albus wondered what this bode for the future but he did not wonder long.

The doors to the Great Hall swung open with a bang causing everyone to look at the men struggling into the Hall.

"Now our other guests arrive!" Harry announced loudly.


	11. Traitor

_(A/N: Another chapter and more to come real soon!)_

**Chapter 11 - Traitor**

The men entering the Great Hall parted to revel Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic. The Minister looked flustered and a little scared. The men with him were all wearing Auror robes and were busy pulling on a number of chains. The chains were attached to what at first glance appeared to be a wild beast but with more careful examination could be seen to be a man, fifthly, wearing rags and with wild unkempt black hair but still a man. Some of the older students recognised the man in chains. He was reputed to be Voldemort's second in charge, Sirius Black. They shrieked in shock at his presence here in the Great Hall at Hogwarts.

"Really Dumbledore, I don't see why it is so important to have this criminal brought here tonight." Fudge complained as he reached the staff table. The headmaster was as surprised at the Ministers words as anyone.

"I sent for him in your name, Headmaster." Harry Potter said loudly and continued in a voice with a tone that held a darkness far beyond his tender years. "Tonight I will avenge my parents death on the traitor that betrayed them and for that I needed Sirius Black here." The ringing statement got everyone's attention. 

Unnoticed, another wizard entered the Great Hall just in time to hear Harry Potter speak these words. He was dressed in old patched robes and he was clearly startled by Harry's words of vengeance. He looked quite ill and was somewhat unsteady on his feet. He kept to the back in the shadow of the doors. He had received the letter from his best friend's son to come here tonight and although he was puzzled about how the boy knew about him, he acknowledged the debt of friendship the boy had called on and even feeling the after effects of the last full moon, nothing was going to stop him being here tonight. What he had not expected was to find the traitor here as well. The man that he had also considered his best friend. The one who had gone over to the dark side and had betrayed them all. Remus Lupin was always considered the mild mannered one of the group of friends known as the marauders but that did not mean he could not feel anger. Right at the moment he realised who the prisoner was, he felt an all-consuming rage in his heart and it was all he could do to stop himself transforming into the wolf. He knew he had to wait his chance. When the opportunity presented itself he would indeed transform and ripe out the throat of the traitor. If the Aurors killed him after that, so what! He would die satisfied that the traitor was dead.

Harry meanwhile held the attention of everyone in the hall and walking right up to the unkempt prisoner and stared him in the face. "I know everything! Tonight it ends!" he said to the man in a quiet but lethal voice.

Sirius Black eyes filled with tears, he shook his head and in a voice long unused he crocked "No!" 

But Harry Potter raised his wand and spinning around he cried "Accio rat"

From the hands of Ron Weasley flew Scabbers. The rat landed in Harry Potter's outstretched hands. "I am sorry Ron but this has got to be done," Harry said to his friend. Ron was horrified. He didn't know what Harry was going to do but he guessed it was not going to be anything good to Scabbers the way Harry had the rat in a death grip.

"Harry, no!" Ron shouted but it was too late, Harry with tip of his wand held against the rats head said, "Well Peter aren't you going to join the party or do I have to convince you by more extreme means?" With that Harry's wand let fly a small spark that hit the rat.

The rat squealed and suddenly transformed into a short fat man wearing old wizard robes, as Harry dropped him to the stone floor. "No please, don't hurt me," he shouted. 

"Oh my god! That's Peter Pettigrew!" the minister shouted. A number of others in the hall had also recognized the man that all thought was murdered by Black after his betrayal of the Potters.

"This is the one who was chosen to be my parents secret keeper. The one who betrayed them to Voldemort. The one who staged his own death to frame my godfather for his betrayal and the one who killed the innocent muggles in the process." Harry said looking down at the cowering man at his feet. Harry Potter had taken on an auror of shear power that stunned all in the hall. The air around the boy was charged with magical energy and it was not all of the light. Dark energies flowed strongly in and around the boy. Many in the hall were beginning to grow afraid of the boy-who-lived. But two present were not terrified of the boy, two who only had eyes for the cowering wizard on the floor. With a feral cry Sirius Black leapt forward taking by surprise the Aurors that held his chains. Transforming to his animagus form he slipped from his chains and leapt snarling at Peter Pettigrew. Remus Lupin was only slightly slower to react. He transformed and leapt over the surprised Aurors.

Peter Petrigue worst nightmare had turned true. The snarling forms of the grim and the werewolf confronted him. He saw his death in their eyes and squealed as he tried to scamper away. But he was held in place by some strange magic that emanated from the boy. What he didn't know was that the dog and the werewolf were also held back from him by the same magic.

"NO!" Harry Potter shouted at Sirius and Remus. "Vengeance for my parents is mine! Not yours." The dog and werewolf looked up at Harry and they were helped by those vivid eyes that burned with green fire. They felt themselves transforming back into their human forms and were soon standing side by side next to the still whimpering wizard on the floor. 

Harry approached Sirius and taking the mans hands into his own and using a gentle voice told him "I don't want you to do anything that will land you back in that awful pace. I know you are innocent and I want you to be free." Sirius stood rigidly still as Harry's eyes held a kindness and joy that Sirius had never expected to see again in his tormented life. Remus stood next to him blinking as Harry's words sunk in. Sirius was innocent! Remus felt the shame at his years of hating his friend. He turned away but was suddenly restrained by the gentle touch of the boy's hand on his arm.

"Remus, don't go!" Harry said softly, "There is much to be set right tonight and I need both my godfathers here to do it." Remus turned back to look at the boy. No one knew that his parents had made both their friends the boy's godfather. Only Sirius could be officially listed, as the ministry did not accept werewolves for such things. Remus could only nod at the boy but his heart flushed with a joy he thought long dead.

Harry turned his attention back to the others in the Great Hall. The place was in chaos. The students had fled to the sidewalls of the Great Hall when the grim and the werewolf had leapt into their midst. The staff, lead by the headmaster, had drawn their wands and stood in front of the students ready to protect them with their lives if necessary. The Aurors, wands drawn and in formation, were poised to attack while the Minister was behind them muttering orders.

"This man is innocent of all charges," Harry announced to the hall indicating Sirius. "Peter Pettigrew is the one who belongs in Azkaban."

The sudden announcement stopped the Aurors in their tracks. The minister was confused. Sirius Black innocent? How could this be but here was the man he was supposed to have murdered, alive and living in hiding as a pet rat, exposed by the son of the Potters. 

The minister turned to the headmaster for guidance. Dumbledore simply shrugged as he put his own wand away and told the minister, "It would seem the only explanation for what has been revelled here tonight." Dumbledore then announced to the Hall, "It would seem the danger has passed, please resume your seats. Prefects please get your houses back to their tables."

The students did as they were told but they made sure they did not go near the men who moments ago were terrifying animals.

The minister while still confused gestured to his men to take Pettigrew into custody. "But I am afraid until we sort this all out, Sirius Black…"

"Will be released into the custody of Remus Lupin!" Harry Potter interrupted. 

The minister again glanced at the headmaster who merely nodded. "Very well he is released to the custody of Remus Lupin pending a full investigation into this affair."

Harry waved his hand and the chains that had bound Sirius Black sprung open. The Aurors still holding the other ends of those chains just gaped at the boy's abilities. Those chains were supposed to be impervious to all unlocking charms. Another flick of his hand and Harry Potter sent the chains flying towards Peter Pettigrew and instantly he was chained up as Sirius had been. He would not be getting away this time.

"Don't even think about trying to transform." Harry said in a cold voice directed at Peter Pettigrew. "I assure you, you would not like the results." Pettigrew quivered in fear, somehow knowing the boy was speaking the truth.

Sirius Black and Remus Lupin were too shocked to move as they still stood next to each other as Peter Pettigrew was dragged away by the Aurors. 

"You are both innocent of all fault in my parents deaths. You two have much to catch up upon. Prongs would have wanted it this way. Don't waste this second chance moony, padfoot." Harry told the two men. They gaped at his use of their secret nicknames.

"Oh that reminds me Moony" Harry said and then he suddenly plunged his hand into Remus Lupins chest. Remus screamed in agony and people in the hall stared in horror at Harry Potter. But Harry pulled back his hand leaving a dazed Remus Lupin with an undamaged chest. But clutched in Harry Potter's hand was an almost spirit entity. It was a hideous beast of fang and claw but without real substance and in the light of the hall it withered away to nothingness. "That's better. No need for you to fear the full moon now." Harry said as Remus realised, for the first time in his life, he could not feel the beast inside him clawing to get out. Harry Potter had done the impossible and cured him of being a werewolf.

"Harry, how?" Remus began to ask.

"It was a simple thing Remus." Harry replied gently, "You deserve a life free from that terror. Go now and talk to Padfoot. He needs healing too and you are the one to do it."

"Harry?" Professor Dumbledore said attracting the attention of his most surprising student, "I trust that is the end of the excitement for the night?" The man's tone had a strong desire for a more peaceful evening and by the expressions on the faces of the others in the Great Hall, he was not alone in that desire.

"Well, there are still one or two small things, Headmaster." Harry said sweetly.


	12. The Dark Mark

_(A/N: I decided to post this chapter now, even though it needs a bit of a tidy up, as I won't get to it before Christmas and I am getting pleading reviews and emails for the next chapter! Hope you enjoy it as is. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We are almost at the end.)_

**Chapter 12 - The Dark Mark**

"Well, there are still one or two small things, Headmaster." Harry said sweetly.

"And what would they be, Harry?" Dumbledore asked with more edge in his voice.

The headmaster did not get a reply as Harry's attention moved to the noise of the doors to the Great Hall opening again. Lucius Malfoy strode into the hall with all his arrogance and distain quite apparent. He saw the Minister and headed directly for him taking absolutely no notice of his own son's attempt to attract his attention. 

"Cornelius," Lucius said, "have the others not arrived yet?"

"The others?" the Minister replied.

"The other governors of this school?" Lucius replied now confused by Fudges blank look, "You did summon us here to remove Dumbledore, did you not?" 

Harry smirked, it was perfect timing. "Ah Lucius Malfoy, I don't believe introductions are necessary." 

Lucius looked down with initial distain at the young urchin that dared speak to him. However his eyes opened wide in surprise when he saw the scar on the boy's forehead. "Potter!" he snarled.

Harry smiled and bowed with a mockingly exaggerated flourish of his arms. "At your service, Mr Malfoy. Please call me Harry. Oh and if you haven't guessed by now I am the one who sent for you tonight." 

"You used my name!!!" the minister shouted. " I'll… I'll… I'll have you charged…"

"Charged and brought up before the Wizengamot? Well, that's a little ahead of schedule but all right, go ahead and try if you want. After tonight, I doubt you would succeed in having me convicted even if I acquiesced." Harry told the Minister dismissively. "That means if I let you, which I, of course, have no intention of doing." Fudge was going the same shade of purple that Harry's Uncle Vernon would turn when angry. Harry however, looking entirely unimpressed, turned his attention back to Lucius Malfoy.

"So Lucius, been to any good Death Eater meetings recently?" Harry asked in a casual tone. Now it was Lucius's turn to grow angry.

"How dare you…" Lucius screamed reaching for his cane.

Harry just smiled back at Lucius Malfoy but it was not a pleasant friendly smile. It was much more like the smile a predator gets when regarding its prey. Lucius Malfoy drew his wand from the cane and pointed directly between the two green eyes in front of him, as he cast a not-quite-unforgivable curse. The boy should have fallen screaming to the ground in agony but instead he just stood there unharmed with a slightly bemused look upon his face.

"Is that it? Is that all you got?" Harry asked in a bored tone.

Lucius Malfoy was in a fury. How dare anyone talk to him that way! He grabbed the front of the boy's robes with his left hand while preparing an even more terrible curse with his wand. 

It was the mistake that Harry had been waiting for. Harry suddenly ripped the sleeve off the left forearm, exposing the Dark Mark on Lucius's skin. Harry pressed his fingers into the mark and it burned black. Lucius dropped his wand as he fell to his knees, screaming in pain. 

"Let's get all your little friends together shall we?" Harry hissed at Lucius.

"Wizards and witches wearing the black cloaks and skull masks of death eaters began to apparate into the Hall. But as quickly as they appeared, they fell to the floor screaming in pain and clutching their left forearms.

At the staff table Professor Severus Snape did not notice this occurring as he had his own problems. His forearm burned and he felt its call. Voldemort's call to come, attend, serve! He felt something else mixed with the call, something strong, somethingalmost alive, something feral and hungry. But the sensation was manageable, painful in the extreme but bearable, hungry but not eating at him, yet!

It stopped as suddenly as it had began. Harry had released Lucius Malfoy's forearm and stepped back. Lucius being well use to the cruciatus curse recovered quickly and regaining his wand once again tried to curse Harry Potter. But nothing happened. Not just the non-effect on Potter but this time, Lucius Malfoy could not even feel the magic in his wand at all. He looked down at the wand puzzled.

"What have you done to me?" Lucius stammered.

"I think the punishment should fit the crime. I have made you and your death eater buddies what you most hate in this world, Muggles! Yes, your magic is forfeit and for the rest of your life you will learn what it is like to be a real muggle without any magic at all. The worst squib ever born has more magic than you now possess. I wonder if you will be shunned by your pure blood friends or perhaps you'll flee the magically world altogether."

Most of the other death eaters were unconscious due to the pain from their dark marks. The few that tried to curse the nearest Auror had cause to deeply regret it, as they joined the other in unconscienness.

On the staff table Professor Snape was still shaken from his experience. He slowly drew back his sleeve and there on his forearm was the last thing he ever expected to see. White, unmarked skin! His Dark Mark was gone, total gone but his magic was intact. Potter had again done the impossible and removed his dark mark. He should have been grateful but he was not, not when it was a Potter that did it. Snape knew he owed the Potters yet another wizard's debt and he hated them all the more for it.

The other staff members were trying to calm the students huddled against the Hall's stone walls. They had seen too much tonight and were in danger of panicking.

"Oh dear!" Harry said as he noticed the others in the hall again. 

The Aurors took little time in dragging the unconscious bodies of the former death eaters out of the hall. 

"Harry!" Dumbledore voice came as the last of the death eaters were removed from the hall. Harry turned and smiled at the old man but Dumbledore looked strained. "May I tell the students to return to their seats now?" Dumbledore asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

Harry sighed and replied, "Perhaps you should hold off on that for a few more minutes Headmaster."


	13. Turmoil

_(A/N: Another Chapter but still a couple to come. I will get them done as soon as I can as I want to finish this story (it was suppose to be only a short one) and get back to my other story "Potter, Harry Potter." I can't believe its been six months since I updated that story! Anyway for now, enjoy this chapter and log a review to tell me what you think!)_

**Chapter 13 - Turmoil**

"May I tell the students to return to their seats now?" Dumbledore asked with a pleading look in his eyes.

Harry sighed and replied, "Perhaps you should hold off on that for a few more minutes Headmaster."

"Harry!" Dumbledore said in a warning tone.

"I'll be back soon." Harry replied and with that he vanished from sight. 

~*~

Two men stood at the back of the hall in the shadows of the doors. They had followed Lucius Malfoy into the hall at a distance, as they had been instructed in letters each had received that day. Several Aurors noticed them but seeing the wizard council badges on their robes, the foremost Auror merely nodded and said, "Senators!" and left them be. 

"So your Excellency, a bad night for the pure bloods then!" The taller of the two wizards commented after they had seen the deatheaters fall and be dragged from the hall by the Aurors. He was Senator Robinson leader of the muggle born faction on the council. 

"I don't see…" The short, fatter wizard dressed in old-fashioned imperial wizard robes replied. Count Stassy was all a pureblood could be. Though he led a party on the council of purebloods whose stated policies were for the return of traditional wizarding culture, they were considered moderates, as they did not support exclusion of all muggle borns from the wizarding world. They were the junior members of the ruling pureblood coalition on the council. Their partners in the coalition held more extreme views and were lead by Lucius Malfoy himself." 

"Didn't you see who the deatheaters were as the Aurors dragged them out. Together with Malfoy himself, I figure the majority of your coalition partners will be spending some considerable time in Azkaban prison." Senator Robinson said earnestly.

The Count fumed. He knew that Robinson was right. "You and your group on the council are not in any position to gain advantage from this." The fat wizard said.

"Yet! Our numbers grow and your's diminish. Its all a matter of time and we muggle borns have learned to be patient." Senator Robinson replied joyfully. "And your man Fudge is certainly looking out of his depth. Whatever will he do now there is not Lucius to whisper instructions into his ear!"

"What on earth!" The Count gasped suddenly ending the conversation.

~*~

People had begun appearing into the Great Hall and if it was a shock for those in the Hall, it was even more of a shock for the people themselves.

"Hermione?" A woman who had just appeared wearing a white coat and still holding a dental probe asked. "What on earth is going on?" Behind her a man in a similar white coat blinked as he tried to orientate himself. 

"Mum, Dad! What are you doing here?" Hermione shrieked as she recognised her parents.

Around the Hall the other students were surprised by the sudden appearance of their familles as well. Ron, Fred, George and Percy Weasley were excitedly trying to talk to their brothers Bill and Charlie and their parents.

"But I was in an Egyptian tomb" Bill Weasley said stunned by his sudden appearance at Hogwarts.

"I was riding a dragon in Romania" Charlie Weasley said equally stunned.

"How is this possible, Arthur?" Mrs Weasley said as she grabbed young Ginny.

"It must have been Harry, Mum!" Ron yelled.

"Don't be silly dear." Mrs Weasley replied.

"Well he took care of Lucius Malfoy…" Fred told his mother,

"…and all those deatheaters, mum!" George continued.

"DEATHEATERS! Where?" Arthur Weasley jumping up yelled.

"Just here a few minutes ago Dad." George replied

"The Aurors dragged them out just before you all appeared." Fred continued.

"MUM! Scabbers was a wizard!" Ron yelled above his brothers.

"I don't understand. One at a time Boys!" Arthur Weasley said.

"Harry freed Sirius Black." Percy cut in pointing to the two men talking not far away.

"Oh my!" Mrs Weasley said as she recognised one of the men.

Similar confused conversations amongst students and their families were happening all over the Great Hall as the students tried to explain all the events of the evening. Draco Malfoy was trying to explain to his mother what had happened to Lucius. Many of the staff were also engaged in conversations with arrivals like Mad Eye Moody and Tonks.

~*~

Dumbledore frowned as he witnessed all this happening. Many turned their attention to him for some explanation of the evening. The trouble with being the leading expert on magic in the wizarding world, the headmaster realised, was that everyone expected you to know exactly what was going on all the time and at the moment the headmaster did not have a clue. 

"Now see here Dumbledore. This has gone quite far enough!" Fudge complained.

"The Minister is correct Headmaster. The boy is a menace to the school and should be restrained." followed Snape's oily tones.

"And what do you propose I do about it." Dumbledore replied, "I don't even know what is really going on here." Many people gasped in shock at this.

"You could… You could just…" Fudge continued failing to complete his sentence.

"No Cornelius, I could not! That is my point. For better or worse Harry Potter is far beyond any of our powers. Harry Potter should not have been able to apparate from within Hogwarts but I perceived him brushing aside the wards with ease. The death eaters should not have been able to apparate into here either. A fact I again attribute to Mr Potter's overriding of this castle's strongest wards. And as far as the sudden apparition of all these people… Well you can see my point, can't you! If he can do all this with such ease, what else is he capable of? Luckily, he has not threatened or harmed a single one of the students, staff or Ministry personnel, only the death eaters and apart from the loss of their powers they are also uninjured. I insist no confrontation take place here where it might endanger the students, and that includes Harry. We must wait and see for now."

"Thank you Headmaster!" Harry said from behind the huddle of staff and ministry officials. They spun around to find the boy standing there holding high a large glowing orb with his left hand. "You have my word that no student shall come to harm if it is within my power to prevent. But if we are to save their lives now and in the future, then they must accept some of the world's realities, as ugly and unsettling as they are." Harry nodded towards the headmaster and Dumbledore nodded his consent curtly back.

Harry pushed the glowing orb up into the air and it hung there by itself as he withdrew his hand. Harry strode down the hall until he stood before the largest groups of Slytherin students and their families, including Draco Malfoy and his mother. Draco and most of the other Slytherins sneered at him. 

"You now blame me for what I did to many of your parents. WELL TOO BAD! They made their choice. The choice to answer again the summons of what they thought was the dark lord. They transfigured their clothes into the black robes and white masks of the death eaters and they came to do their Lord's bidding. And by that action they were condemned." The fury in Harry's voice stung their ears. "Does anyone of you doubt that if the dark lord was really here, the death eaters would have done his bidding? Attack staff and students, kill, torture and destroy any that the dark lord wanted them too. Even you, their own children!"

Harry watched most of the Slytherins lower their gaze as the truth of his statements struck home. "Those few who resisted the summons have had their marks removed. They are free and I have no issue with them anymore, even those who still hold to the idea that pure bloods are better than muggle borns. I don't agree with the idea but others are free to believe whatever they will, so long as they do not try to enforce their views on all by terror and murder." Harry paused to give them time to consider what he had said.

There were mutterings amongst the students now as they tried to figure it all out.

"And what about my father, Potter. What you did to him…" Draco's anger had overwhelmed his fear.

"YOUR PARENTS ARE ALIVE, DRACO!" Harry yelled in a voice so loud it was physical painful to those in front of him. The hall was silent as everyone listened to the exchange. Harry continued in a more controlled voice. "They are alive and uninjured. They have not been disfigured, tortured or driven insane. You can still talk to them and they can still look after you and raise you in their own home. And you are free to accept their beliefs or choose your own. You still have your parents. That is much more than many others in this hall can say of their own parents, including myself." Draco flinched as that struck home. "I said to you a little while ago that I would do what I can to help you. And I will but I will not stand by and see death eaters spread their terror once more."

Draco was about to object at this but Harry cut him off. "Do you know what your father planned Draco? Do you know of the object he recently acquired? The diary, Draco! Did he tell you what he hoped he could achieve with it? Did he tell you whom he thought he could resurrect? Did he tell you of the victims it would take? And who they were to be? WELL DRACO DID HE TELL YOU?"

Draco paled at the questions. His father had not told him the details but only general hopes for brining back the Dark Lord. And Draco knew it would involve the deaths of a number of mudbloods at Hogwarts. His anger was overwhelmed by his embarrassment and his guilt.

"Do you know Draco?" Harry asked again.

"Yes!" Draco said quietly.

"I can't hear you!" Harry stated firmly.

"YES! YES! I know enough!" Draco yelled.

"Do you agree?" Harry asked calmly.

"What?" Draco replied puzzled.

"Do you agree with what your father wanted to do?" Harry asked.

"No!" Draco said with as much dignity as he could.

"Good!" Harry said smiling at the boy. Then Harry turned and made to walk away but Draco called out to him.

"Wait! What do you mean, good?" Draco demanded.

Harry stopped and turned as replied "I told you before, our fate is in our own hands, not our fathers. You are not your father, you will make different choices in life than him, for good or bad." Harry nodded politely at confused Draco. "Your parents are still alive, Draco. Be thankful for that!"

And addressing the still silent Slytherin students and their families around Draco, Harry said, "As are all your parents and families. That is no small thing considering their past, present and future deeds. Trust me when I say that I am well capable of killing all the death eaters in the world, your parents included. But they are alive and unharmed. I took their magic to prevent them ever again from inflicting pain and suffering on the world in service of Voldemort."

Draco flinched at the Dark Lords name. "Don't say his name, Potter!" Draco hissed.

"Actually his name is not Voldemort." Harry said as Draco and many others flinched again, "It's Riddle."

Harry turned and to everyone in the great hall, in a loud commanding voice he said. "For decades the wizarding world has been held hostage by one man, if you can call him a man. Lord Voldemort!" Harry sneered at those in front of him that flinched at the mention of the name. "Would you prefer if I said Tom Riddle?" blank looks adorned the faces in the crowd. Harry signed and using his wand he spelt out the words in fiery letters in the air above him for all to see.

Tom   
Marvolo   
Riddle

They burned there for a few seconds for all to see and then with a flick of his wand Harry sent the letters in movement. They rearranged themselves into new words.

I   
Am   
Lord   
Voldemort

"Tom Riddle is Voldemort's real name!" Harry told all present in the crowd. Realisation dawned for those before Harry Potter. "And fifty years ago he was a student here at Hogwarts. He was sorted into Slytherin and it must have been very hard for him there at first as he was not a pureblood. His father was a muggle.

A number of the Slytherins gasped at this revelation.

"Its true! Tom Riddle struggled and began to gain the respect of his peers and the staff for his brilliance and sheer determination to succeed at any cost." Harry continued holding all present spellbound. "In fact, he was made head boy by Headmaster Dippet and all the staff thought the world of him, all the staff except one that is." Harry tipped his head at Dumbledore and received the same in reply. 

"Isn't that right, TOM?" Harry said to the glowing sphere and as the glow diminished a ghastly figure was revealed.

"You'll pay for this Potter as your parents paid for their foolishness!" the grotesque form yelled for the entire hall to hear.

There were screams around the hall as these words were heard and the realisation of who the figure in the orb was came to the students, their families and some of the Minister's party.

"Have no fear. His magic cannot penetrate the orb. He is sealed in until I choose to release him." Harry yelled above the noise. Harry eyes literally glowed a disturbing shade of vivid green and his complex aura of magic light and dark, swirled around him.

"Let all here today bear witness to the world." Harry spoke the words with such strength of tone that all fell silent to listen. He went on, "What power brought me forth into this world I know not. But I know what I am. I was forged in the furnace of battle, harden in misery, shaped by pain, strengthened by long war and edged by deaths uncounted. I am the sword of vengeance. Wielded by the one who forged me," Harry said looking at a surprised Dumbledore, " to sweep the darkness that threatens to engulf us all from the world. I was made to bring the light to all!"

The swirl of magical energies swept the hall and the enchanted ceiling at first dimmed and then began to glow. Everything in the great hall was washed by the brilliant light from the ceiling. All those present squinted in the light and were blinded by the unbearable bright glare.

"But I discovered that the light can be as oppressive as the dark." And with those words the ceiling dimmed into a swirl of many colours light and dark. "That is the truth that I bring you this night, and the chance to be free from all oppression, light and dark. The rich tapestry of life should be woven from many threats in many shades, hues and colours." 

With that the colours of the ceiling changed into a rich pattern whose sheer beauty stunned all who saw it. Many themes of light and dark colours appeared in it and just as quickly disappeared before the eye could fully discern their purpose but the pattern became richer still. Patterns flowed from one to another and slowly greater things than mere pleasing patterns could be seen. The ceiling became a landscape of astounding clarity with high mountains and wide waters, the rain parted and the sun shone upon a forest of untold majesty, Beasts walked in the dappled light of the new day in great numbers and many peoples walked among them. And still the ceiling grew in beauty. All who watched were held in a speechless wonder. 

Principal among the people in the landscape were four figures as different from each other as night is to day. Two men and two women! Good friends with a common purpose. Valiant, wise, loyal and crafty they were. These four gathered the others around them and began to build a great work of stone and timber. Stone by stone, beam by beam, the work grew until a familiar outline took shape. Hogwarts! They were watching the building of this very castle by the four founders themselves. All could hear the laughter of children as the castle was completed. And then the children were seen running, still laughing, towards the castle. Some rich, some poor, some dressed in rags but all welcomed into the castle. 

The images flashed past faster. Autumn turned to winter, winter to spring and on into summer, years pasted and thousands of children came and grew and left as young proud adults. Then the first of the troubles came. Division and conflicts, fights and battles, flashed past to peace and more laughter again. On through years uncounted was this pattern repeated. Centuries pasted ever faster until the ceiling came closer to the present day, then it slowed but did not stop. 

Those in the hall that night watched as the future was displayed. They saw the conflicts and many battles as Harry Potter battled the Dark lord. More horrible than all the other battles and wars they had seen combined and they seemed no end to it. Many saw their own faces fall in battle on the side of the desperate darkness or the rabid army of light. Finally, they saw the final battle at Hogwarts were both armies destroyed themselves in the frenzy of battle and were Harry Potter ripped through the very fabric of this universe to be rid of the Dark Lord. They saw the aftermath and the victims. The long years of misery and the struggle to rebuild what was lost and finally they saw a much older Harry Potter stand by the castle trying to mend the damage to the universe. Then they saw the betrayal of Harry Potter by those around him and the end of all things."

"You have seen the future from which I come. No don't ask how I came to be here, I don't know. I have changed my past to avoid that terrible future but you could bring it about again or many others just as bad, if you do not change your ways. I am not talking about giving up those things you believe in but in how you bring them about. You have seen how violence on both sides ends. There are other ways and I have tried to follow them here tonight. The choice is now yours!" Harry said and with that, the ceiling faded back to the night sky.

"Headmaster, the students may now return to their seats." Harry told Dumbledore as he bowed low. Dumbledore awoke from his enchantment and nodded to his staff and they began to direct the students and their families be seated at the house tables. They all had seen much this night and where still processing the memories as they stumbled in silence back to their house tables.


	14. Resolution

_(A/N: I pinched a few lines from Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings". I don't own it or anything in the Harry Potter universe either.)_

**Chapter 14 - Resolution**

"Headmaster, the students may now return to their seats." Harry told Dumbledore as he bowed low. Dumbledore awoke from his enchantment and nodded to his staff and they began to direct the students and their families back to their seats. They had seen much this night and where still processing the memories as they stumbled in silence back to their house tables.

The hall was hushed. The sounds of slow scrapping feet as everyone made their way back to the house tables and perhaps a small sob from one of the younger students were all that could be heard. The first whisper was a young Ravenclaw first year to his mother, "But I don't want to die!" The whisper rebounded around the hall as if it had been shouted. More whispers arose and soon the hall was a cacophony of sound. The young students cried, the parents consoled and the staff did what they could but it would take more than a few encouraging words before the memory of what they had witnessed receded. 

Harry turned away from the headmaster and walked down the hall. Fudge came back to his senses, raised his wand and yelled, "STUPIFY!"

The spell raced down the hall and struck Harry Potter's back. Harry stopped and turned his head back towards the Minister's group. Harry was quite unaffected by the stunning spell except that his eyes were glowing bright green.

"Attack! Attack!" Fudge yelled fearfully to the Aurors surrounding him.

"You gotta be kidding." One Auror said as he and the others backed away from the Minister and out of the line of fire from Harry Potter.

But Harry Potter took no action other than shaking his head. Harry just turned back and walked away untouched by the Fudge's curse.

Albus Dumbledore however, was not going to allow anyone to hurt his students. Everyone in the Great Hall jumped in surprise when he yelled, "CORNELIUS FUDGE, MUST I REPEAT MYSELF! NO STUDENT IS TO BE ENDANGERED BY ANYONE SIR! IF YOU CANNOT ABIDE BY MY RULES, I MUST ASK YOU TO LEAVE. NOW!"

The hideous figure of Voldemort in the suspended orb cackled with laughter. "Why do you put up with these fools Old Man? Release me and together we could rule this world."

"Be quiet Tom. I wasn't speaking to you!" Albus Dumbledore said calmly but the power his presence emanated shocked many of those gathered in the hall, not least among them the Minister himself. 

"You… You can't…" Fudge stammered. "If you think I am leaving here with that… that thing allowed to do…"

But the headmaster moved closer and loomed over the much shorter Minister. Dumbledore's eyes held his rage at the attack on one of his students. "Get… Out…Now!!!" he said from between clenched teeth. Fudge paled and stumbled away from the angry Headmaster and hurried to the doors with the Aurors moving quickly after him.

~*~

"Good God!" Senator Robinson gasped.

"I must agree with you for once!" Count Stassy said, "Attacking someone we just saw has the power to destroy the entire universe is hardly a wise thing."

"Look, I know we don't agree on many things but now that Lucius Malfoy and his cronies are out of the way, can we at least agree to get rid of Fudge. That idiot is a menace to us all!" Senator Robinson said heatedly.

"How strange!" Count Stassy replied coolly, "I find I must agree with you again. With our combined votes we could be rid of him tomorrow but then who would be Minister?"

"Not many will want the job after tonight and fewer still are qualified for it. We have to find someone who is acceptable to both your purebloods and my muggle borns and knows how to run the ministry. Then there is the prospect of dealing with young Mister Potter…" Senator Robinson stopped as the green eyes of Harry Potter met his. Harry turned his gaze towards the red heads at the Gryffindor table. Senator Robinson got the hint and said, "What about Arthur Weasley?"

"Weasley!" the count said surprised, "Do you really think…"

"He does!" Senator Robinson replied indicating Harry, " and I for one am not prepared to dispute it."

"Yes, I see your point." The Count replied taken aback by the gaze Harry levelled at him.

"You know when you come to think about it, it's not a bad idea." Senator Robinson replied thoughtfully, "Arthur Weasley has helped many of my party deal with Ministry problems over the years and I am sure I can get my party to support his candidacy as Minister. And as a pureblood, he would be acceptable to yours. In fact he could be the poster boy for your campaign for pureblood wizards and witches to have larger families."

"But why would Potter…" the Count began but stopped as he beheld the scene at the Gryffindor table.

~*~

Harry walked across the hall towards the Gryffindor table. People in his way stepped quickly aside as if he had some mysterious bubble surrounding him, keeping them back but Harry knew it was their fear of him that was the real cause. Even the brave Gryffindors to whom he belonged were wary of him now.

Seamus looked pale, Dean Thomas was sweating with his eyes wide and Neville threatened to pass out as Harry walked past them and up behind the crowd of red heads at one end of the Gryffindor table.

"Hi!" Harry said as the Weasleys noticed him. They were obviously taken aback by his sudden arrival and looked pensive as they stepped hurried back away from him.

"There's no need to…" Harry told them falteringly, "I'm sorry, I should not have come." He continued, turning away.

"WAIT!" Ron yelled and when Harry turn back to face him, Ron step forward and asked, "That was really me, without my arms and legs and things?" Mrs Weasley grabbed Ron in a hug from behind sobbing on his shoulder

"Yes. Because of me." Harry replied with tears shining in his eyes. 

"Rubbish!" Ron replied hotly. "It's like on the chess board. It is always you that has to go on. Anyway I guess it's not going to happen now you taken care of You-Know-Who and his deatheaters."

Harry smiled at his best friend and replied, "I certainly hope not." 

"Me too! I mean, how in hell would I scratch my nose without my arms?" Ron said loudly. His brothers just laughed and it certainly brought another smile to Harry's face.

But Hermione just rolled her eyes and said, "Really Ron!"

Harry feeling playful for the first time in decades replied. "You don't have to worry Ron, the headmistress here took care of things like that for you."

"I was really headmistress of Hogwarts" Hermione said in awe and before Harry could reply continued. "Professor Hermione Granger, Headmistress of Hogwarts!" Hermione's eyes glittered with excitement at the prospect.

Harry with an even broader smile corrected her, "Professor Hermione Weasley, Headmistress of Hogwarts." 

Hermione looked shell-shocked as she heard Harry. "You can't mean… " she said but was cut off by being swept up in a hug by Mrs. Weasley who had stopped sobbing over Ron. The twins were slapping Ron on his back and offering their congratulations. Ron just looked puzzled until the twins explained the obvious.

"BLOODY HELL!" Ron yelled.

"Ron! Language!" Mrs Weasley shouted.

"Sorry Mum but…married, we're married!" Ron replied looking at Hermione horrified.

"Ronald Weasley! If that's the way you feel about things…" Hermione replied angrily but Harry cut her off.

"You guys spent years arguing constantly, until you both realised you only did it to hide how much you care for each other. Whether you do that again or not is up to you." Harry said. "But I'm not going to be here to referee."

"Why? Were are you going?" Hermione asked as she tried to dislodge a clinging Mrs Weasley.

"Away." Harry said sadly. "I can't stay. Not with everyone afraid of me. I don't want to go through that again."

"Harry," Arthur Weasley "I'm Ron's father and this is his mother, Molly. But I guess you know that already. You are welcome to stay with us until we get things sorted out for you. You don't have to leave."

"Thanks Mr Weasley." Harry replied, "I don't know if it was evident or not but I always considered the Weasleys to be the closest thing I had to a real family. You often took care of me even when it put your own family at risk. And Mrs Weasley and her hugs were always there when I needed consoling." Harry tears flowed down his face until he was wrapped in the arms of Mrs Weasley.

"You poor boy!" Mrs Weasley said. Molly Weasley may have been terrified by the display of power she had just witnessed but confronted with a child in need of comfort, there was no way her maternal instincts could be held in check. She rocked the young boy in her arms until he stirred and gently pulled away. 

"God! I have missed those." Harry said smiling coyly at Mrs Weasley.

"You'll be coming home with us!" Mrs Weasley announced. "And that's an end to it!" She added with a look on her face that would prevent any from disputing her proclamation. 

"Thanks Mrs Weasley but I can't. For everyone's sake, I need to go!" Harry replied sadly.

"So, you'll return to your muggle family?" Arthur Weasley asked.

"No. No, they never wanted me. My aunt took me in only to keep me safe from Voldemort but now he's been dealt with, they would not want me back. But don't worry; I know where I am going. Everything will be fine, I assure you." Harry smiled at everyone. 

"But there are so many things you could help with." Arthur said, "the ministry is in need of a shake up and I think you could be the one to do it Harry."

"The wizarding world can't ever progress as it should, if there is some powerful being lurking in the wings threatening to intervene, even if they mean to do good and not evil, Mr Weasley. Beside I believe you will have a new Minister of Magic very soon to effect that shake-up."

"They always seem to elect political hacks like Fudge, Harry." Arthur Weasley replied.

"I have complete confidence that the new Minister will not be anything like Fudge, Mr Weasley. He'll be the leader the Ministry needs for the future." Harry said.

"Well, I hope you're right, Harry. If he is as good as you say, he'll have my total support." Arthur Weasley said as he placed his hands on Harry's shoulders. "But are you really sure you can't come home with us? Just for a while? At least think about it!"

"I have saved the wizarding world, but not for me. It is often so, Mr Weasley. When things are in danger, someone has to give then up, lose them, so that others may keep them." Harry said smiling. "It looks like everyone is heading up to bed. You go along. I need to have a few words with the headmaster."

Slowly the Weasleys, Grangers and the others at the Gryffindor table got up and wandered towards the Great Hall's doors.

~*~

As Arthur Weasley and his family approached the doors he heard a voice call his name.

"Arthur Weasley!" Senator Robinson called. 

"Senator, I didn't realise you were… Count!" Arthur Weasley replied as he saw the two men standing beside the doors.

"In the morning, perhaps you'll drop by my office for a little chat with the both of us, eh!" Senator Robinson said. "Nothing to worry about, I assure you."

"No! No! Good news and all that." Count Stassy continued. "So! This is the famous Weasley clan I have heard so much about. Well you are certainly doing the wizarding world proud raising such a fine number of wizards. And, of course, by no means least, such a pretty young witch. Capital! Capital! A few more families like yours and our numbers would not be decreasing at all." The Count positively beamed at the Weasleys.

"Ah! Thank you, Senators. I'll be round as soon as I get to the office in the morning." Arthur Weasley replied nervously.

"No hurry Arthur. Take a late morning. Anyway we have a little meeting with Minister Fudge to conclude first." Senator Robinson replied. "Now go get your family settled for the night."

"Senators!" Arthur said in departing and walked away from the two men. 

~*~

Harry watched as the families departed the Great Hall. Some parents would leave immediately and others would stay the night and go on the train with their children in the morning. As they passed, few would look directly at him. Harry knew this was from the fear he knew too well. One of the few that did catch his eye when leaving was Draco Malfoy. The blond boy held his mothers hand as they walked out and on seeing Harry looking at him, Draco meet his gaze with a look that was hard to read but was not fearful or hostile. Harry knew he had given the boy a lot to think about and that he would now be master of his own destiny. That was enough for Harry.

"Harry!" a gentle voice said from behind as the last few people were leaving the hall.

"Albus." Harry said turning to meet the eyes of the Headmaster.

"So you are from the future?" Dumbledore asked.

"I am from a future. I doubt it will come about now." Harry said.

"No! I believe you have dealt quite effectively with that." Dumbledore replied. "Especially as we now have Tom with us."

"Yes, although frankly I am not sure what to do with him. I know what the prophecy says but now I have given up killing…" Harry said thoughtfully.

"Ah, of course, you would know about the prophecy." Dumbledore replied looking relieved.

"Yes, you eventually got around to telling me." Harry said with a glare at the headmaster but it softened as he let go of his pain again.

"I take it was not under the best of circumstances then." Dumbledore said having noticed the glare.

"No, you waited too long and it cost us both a great deal. But that is in the past, or should I say the future? This time travelling is very confusing." Harry smiled as he said this. "Whatever! I forgave you long ago from my perspective."

"And what now, Harry?" Dumbledore asked kindly but there was an underlying intensity in his words.

"You don't need to worry Albus. I have no desire to be the next Dark Lord. As I told the Weasleys, I am leaving." Harry replied. 

"I am sorry to hear that Harry. If I can be of assistance…" Dumbledore said.

"It's ok Albus. My plans are made." Harry replied and after a short silence between them he continued. "I never told you how much I loved it here at Hogwarts. I always considered it my home even in this first year. The Dursley's were never my home, but here was."

"And when will you leave?" Dumbledore asked

"Soon, Albus soon." Harry replied.

"Well you certainly proved earlier that the wards are of no hindrance to you. I don't suppose you would like to tell me how you managed that, would you?" Dumbledore asked.

"I can give you a hint Albus. Muggles use digital encoding these days for many things. During the war Hermione found the same techniques could be used in magic. I am able to encode any spell right on top of your wards and they pass through without any interference at all. You should be able to figure the rest out given time."

"That means there's not a ward in this world that could not be passed through." Albus said shocked.

"Not until someone designs digital wards too. Then it's back to square one. But in the mean time it should allow you and the Order to deal with any of Voldemort's supporters' vaults and houses. There are a lot of dark objects in store that could give the world a lot of trouble in the future unless taken care of soon."

"I'll get everyone right onto it, if I can get the Minister's permission for the raids. Hmmm that may not be easy after I shouted at him tonight." Dumbledore said.

"I am sure that tomorrow the Minister of Magic will be only too happy to help Albus. Now I think its time you went to bed yourself. It's been a long day." Harry said

Dumbledore looked at the small boy in front of him that had sounded like the real adult in this conversation.

"And you?" Dumbledore asked.

"I will say my goodbyes to the castle and then I will sleep more peacefully than ever before." Harry said as he turned away from the headmaster.

Albus Dumbledore knew deep down that the boy was right but his heart still ached with sorrow for Harry's leaving.

"Contact me if ever you need us again, Harry. Take care of yourself and I hope you find some measure of the happiness you deserve." Dumbledore said as he turned to leave.

"Look after them all for me Albus." Harry said as the headmaster walked away.

Harry looked around at the Great Hall of Hogwarts for the last time and he knew he was ready.

"To the next great adventure." Harry said to himself but his words reached the Headmaster just as he approached the doors to the Great Hall. Albus Dumbledore felt the chill down his spine as he heard those words and realised their meaning. He spun and screamed "NO!"

Harry raised his wand and said the words "Avada Kedavra" as he pointed the wand towards his own head.

Harry, engulfed in a rush of green light, fell onto the floor looking up towards the enchanted ceiling with blank open eyes.

Harry Potter was dead.


	15. Death

_(A/N: Do you hate me for killing Harry? Lets see what you make of this chapter then. Don't forget to tell me what you think in a review!)_

**Chapter 15 - Death**

Harry Potter was dead. 

The body of Harry Potter lay in a coffin in the Great Hall of Hogwarts where the staff table usually stood. The Great Hall was filled with wealths and flowers from the many who came to pay their last respects to the child that had saved the wizarding world. Thousands had come in the 3 days that had passed from the night that had shocked all the wizarding world. More mourners still waited in the long line moving slowly into the Great Hall and past the body of the-boy-who-lived-no-more. 

The orb containing what remained of the Dark Lord still hung nearby the coffin at the front of the Great Hall for no one could find a way of moving it. With several silencing spells cast on the orb, no more of the cackling laughter could be heard from the figure inside. Voldemort could still be seen but people we fast becoming use to the looming presence and paid little heed.

Hermione and Ron had held vigil beside the coffin during those days and would only leave to eat and sleep during the nights once the doors were closed to all. They were back a first light before the doors opened again. Their familles had tried to get them to spend less time in the Hall but to no avail. In the end, no one had the heart to stop them mourning for their best friend.

"Ron! Where are Harry's glasses? He needs his glasses! He can't see without them. We must find them." Hermione muttered to Ron who had not spoken a word in all three days. Hedwig who was upon a perch next to the coffin flew off and out of the hall in silence.

"His hair is wrong. Someone needs to fix his hair! It shouldn't be slicked back like that. Harry wouldn't like it like that! It should cover his scar. Harry wouldn't want all these people looking at his scar! He wouldn't like that!" Hermione continued on incessantly. Ron said nothing. 

Hedwig returned, unnoticed until she alighted upon Ron's shoulder and from her beak dropped Harry's old glasses into his lap and she flew back to her perch with a sorrowful cry.

Ron picked up the glasses and suddenly stood. His brothers tried to stop him but he pushed them out of his way and strode determinedly towards the coffin. Ron ignored the line of mourners, the wealths and flowers, and everything else that was in his way as he struggled to reach Harry's side. Once he stood next to the coffin, he cleaned the glasses with his robe and placed them gently onto Harry's face. He then ruffled the hair of his friend gently, and arranged his bangs to roughly cover the scar on his forehead.

Ron backed away from the coffin and made his way back to sit again next to Hermione. "Thank you, Ron! Harry will be happier now! Yes!" Hermione said as she collapsed into his arms sobbing. Ron hugged her gently but was still unable to say anything in his grief.

Many others sat next to the grieving friends. Albus Dumbledore sat bent over and looked every one of his 150 years of age. Many were shocked to see him so stricken. He ignored their entreats as he watched over the coffin in front of him. At his side sat Remus Lupin and Sirius Black.

"It was better to leave me in Azkaban than to free me only to witness this!" Sirius said in his prison whisper of a voice to Remus who did not reply. Sirius, after a few quiet sobs continued, "This is truly hell!" and dropped his head into his hands to weep again in misery. 

With the headmaster so affected it had fallen to the heads of house to arrange the funeral of Harry Potter. Professor Severus Snape, head of Slytherin house, potions master and terror of all things Gryffindor, especially the-boy-who-lived, threw himself into the arrangements for the funeral with a mania that bored on possession. A few visitors had tried to use the occasion for their own ends such as the reporter Rita Skeeter. Professor Snape had caught her one night trying to search through the robes that Harry wore. She would not be walking without the limp any time soon. And she was lucky. The two souvenir hunters came off considerably worse. They were unlucky in that they had the misfortune to be noticed by the professor just after he had come back from breaking the news of Harry's death to his relatives. Professor Snape had, of course, thought the Dursley's indifference at first was denial but after repeatedly inviting them to the funeral and their more and more strident refusals, it had dawned on him that they were not displeased at all that the boy was dead. He had left 4 Privet Drive before his fury overwhelmed his oath to never again use an unforgivable curse. Yes, the two souvenir hunters Professor Snape disturbed shortly after his arrival back to Hogwarts would not forget that day for as long as they lived. Word got around and there were no further instances for concern.

At long last the line of witches and wizards paying their respect was coming to the end. Professor Snape looked at the last of the line with expectation. After they had passed, the coffin of Harry Potter would be closed for the last time and carried out of the Hall and down to a special train waiting at Hogsmead. The journey to Godric's Hollow would not take long and Harry would be laid to rest next to his parents' graves. The Potters would be together again in death.

Remus, Sirius, Arthur Weasley and his son Bill stood ready to carry the coffin. Charlie would stay close to help Sirius should the burden prove too much for his condition to bear. Despite all their warnings Sirius would not yield this task to any other. Snape knew that the man would die before relinquishing this burden and so there was nothing more to be done. Professor Snape and Professor McGonagall would help Albus to follow behind the coffin. Snape worried about his mentor more than ever before. The man looked broken.

The last few of the mourners were paying their respects before Harry's coffin.

"As soon as the old women at the end is finished the pall bearers will be needed." Professor Snape told those around him softly.

"You mean the old man?" Professor McGonagall asked.

"What?" Snape responded.

"The last mourner is an old man, Severus. Not an old women." Professor McGonagall said plainly.

"Have you been drinking?" Snape snarled.

"I see a young boy!" Albus Dumbledore said as he made to stand.

"I don't understand." Snape said looking at the last mourner closely. She was not more than two dozen feet from where they stood. It was clearly an old woman who was hunched over with age. 

"We each see something different." Professor McGonagall gasped. "But why?"

"I do not know." Dumbledore said, "But I intend to find out." Dumbledore suddenly ablaze with power strode forward, wand in hand. 

The young boy that Dumbledore perceived in front of Harry's coffin stood gazing at the body and did not seem to notice the aged Headmaster move behind him. The boy suddenly said. "Alas, little one that it should finally come to this after all the trouble you have been to me." The boy's voice rang inside Albus Dumbledore's head like the tolling of a deep bell. It was certainly not the voice of a real young boy. Albus Dumbledore forced his senses to see beyond the illusion that stood before him, to perceive what was really there. He only managed the merest glimpse of the truth. 

"Begone demon!" Albus Dumbledore demanded.

"Demon! I am no demon though once they were my brothers. I fell not into the pit." The boy said.

Albus grew even more worried. If what this being said was the truth, Albus Dumbledore faced something far more terrifying than any demon.

"What business do you have with us in our grief?" Albus Dumbledore ventured in a more neutral tone. 

"Who are you to demand answers of me?" The boy replied and turned slowly until he faced Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore was taken aback. The boy had no eyes. The eye sockets held a thing beyond all of Aldus Dumbledore's experience. They looked like nothing else he had ever seen. Albus Dumbledore looked for his first time on the void that was the absence of all things even emptiness. 

"Who are you?" Dumbledore asked.

"Many names have I had. Some call me friend, others enemy. The ancient Hebrews called me liberator after I took the first born from each house in Egypt. Azreal, they named me, Archangel of Death." The boy replied.

Albus Dumbledore heard many around him gasp in horror. Here before them was Death itself taken human form. An unheard of event! Albus Dumbledore's mind raced with what it might mean and how best to deal with it. 

"Child, there is nothing for you to deal with." The young boy sighed and continued. "The Archangel of Death, I always liked that one best. Bit of panache about it! But now people just shorten it to Death, like they were on a first name basis with me. No one is on friendly terms with me! The first time they meet me, is their last. I move them on but none ever get to know me. I visit all but no one has ever visited me!" the boy spoke with his tone becoming more bitter as he went. The boy paused for a moment as if studying Albus Dumbledore and then slowly turned back to Harry's coffin. "Except him!" the boy said with a fondness in his voice. The boy's hand slowly caressed Harry's face.

"I was all alone and did not even know it." The boy continued, "until in my void I perceived a laugh, pure and innocent. A child was with me. Impossible but there he was surrounded in a glow of a mother's love and with his bright green eyes he could see me for what I really am and he smiled at me. And a heart, I did not know I had, broke. Perhaps that is why I returned him to this world. Little did I know that it would not be the last time he would visit me. Each time I returned him to the world of the living hoping he would find happiness. But it was not to be. He would return to me again and each time I would see he was a little sadder. Still true, still in many ways as good but his innocence was being eaten away. Then he came after destroying everything. Not on purpose! Not with evil in his heart! For evil could never find a home there. But by a mistake! By his desire to do good! By another betrayal!"

"Yes a mistake and then I made one too. For once I had rebuilt this plane of existence, I could place him in this new existence but left him his memories and his powers from the old so that he could use them to find happiness. But alas, he always thinks of others before himself. So finally it has come to this. I will take him to the place beyond and I shall lose him forever. I have come to so enjoy his little visits. I came to learn what it must be like to be a father. To worry and be concerned for another! To witness the growth of a child's character and strength! To see his victories and his defeats! He really was worthy of my efforts. But he will come no more. It is an end. How strange that is to me. I have no end, no beginning. I merely am. Immortal. I cannot follow him were he now must journey. And for the first time, I wish it were not so. So instead I have come to mourn like all fathers do when their child passes. And I will take his soul beyond and never again shall I see him." 

"Give him back to us again." Dumbledore said, "You have done it before, do it again and let us give him the happiness you desire for him."

"That is no longer possible. I have come for a soul and a soul I must have." The boy said chillingly.

"Then take mine!" Dumbledore said firmly.

"Yours shall I have soon enough child." The boy sneered. "There are rules even I must follow and one is I cannot exchange one soul for another… unless…" the boy had become hesitant. "No, that has not been done for ages beyond count."

"Unless… you said! Tell us, unless what?" Dumbledore pleaded.

"A sacrifice! A singular offer of sacrifice! That is the exception. But be warned. The soul taken will endure the void beyond and never come to the next plane of existence. They would be as I was before the creation of all that is and would remain my companion though the agony of all eternity. That is why it is not possible."

"Take me and return Harry!" Dumbledore offered looking resolute.

The boy sighed, "You are too near your own time child."

Ron staggered forward. "I will go with you."

Hermione joined him and protested, "No, ME!"

The boy shook his head and still with his back to them said, "No your existences are woven together. You cannot be divided in this world or the next."

"Me!" came the hoarse voice of Sirius Black. Remus Lupin offered as well "I will go!" But the boy just shook his head.

"I will go with you!" A gaunt faced Severus Snape said next to Lupin.

The boy turned his head at this and Snape seeing the void filled eyes was taken aback. "You seek to repay the debt to the father but it is not to be this time."

"I will go!" and "No! Take me!" was heard to be offered by many more around the hall but the boy said nothing until the hall was silent again.

"Worthy offers all but given out of regret and duty. They will not suffice for this." The boy said. The hall was eerily silent.

"I will take his place." A voice so quiet offered that most did not hear it but the boy snapped his head around and stared with those awful eyes of his at the one who had made the last offer.

Draco Malfoy squirmed under the sudden attention but stood his ground. He had entered the hall quietly some time ago and stood out of sight watching the confrontation of Dumbledore with the Archangel of Death.

Draco looked into the eyes of the Archangel and felt faint but could not resist being pulled forward. He now stood on very shaky legs just next to the Headmaster and only a few feet from the Archangel of Death. Death glared at him and said loudly "An enemy offers his soul. Well this is unexpected. Tell me do you mean it." The Archangel asked Draco.

"Yes!" it was more of a squeak than a word that Draco spoke in reply. 

"And do you understand what will happen to the soul I take in exchange." The Angel asked leaning even closer to Draco's sweating pale face.

"Yes!" came Draco's squeak.

"No, you do not! For if you did truly understood, you would not offer yourself." The Angel said ominously. "So do you offer for a third time? Your soul, for his? For all eternity?"

Draco was silent and then with great effort he spoke, "Yes!" and he closed his eyes already knowing the answer to his offer.

"A singular offer of sacrifice indeed." The Archangel of Death said smiling. "The offer satisfies the condition set forth!" a role of thunder shook the hall at the end of those words. And then the Archangel of Death began to laugh; long loud and very disturbing was his laugh. "I have a soul now to keep me company through the endless void of my existence." 

Draco Malfoy paled, his knees gave out and he began to fall but strong arms caught him before he hit the floor. Draco looked up into the hideously disturbing eyes of the Archangel of Death who now held him firmly and close. Draco looked around and saw all the others in the hall were frozen in place like statues. Even the flames on the torches were unmoving.

"Do not worry little one. We exist outside of the thing you know as time." Archangel of Death said with some kindness in his voice.

"Will it be… be bad?" Draco stuttered.

"Yes!" the Archangel of Death replied honestly. "But you did agree, did you not!"

Draco nodded his head as he closed his eyes.

"A singular offer of sacrifice and a soul. They are the terms of…" the Archangel of Death said but stopped suddenly and began to laugh. "Yes, those were the terms… To the letter… Is it possible…" The Archangel of Death smiled at Draco who was not following the conversation at all and laughed again. "Yes! Why not!"

The Archangel of Death stood to his full height and reached out his hand. The orb containing Voldemort was drawn to it and the Archangel of Death glared at its contents. "Why don't you come with me Tom? Did you not want to be immortal? Now you have your chance."

"No! No, you can't!" Voldemort screamed inside the orb now able to be heard again. "I did not offer!"

"Ah! But the terms were for a singular offer of sacrifice and a soul. There is no mention that they must be from the same person." The Archangel of Death replied smiling at the figure of Voldemort in the orb. "A technicality perhaps but a good one. Perhaps I will be in trouble for it but I have a history of doing things my own way. Why I am not even supposed to appear in human form either but I did. I will venture this too. You will be my companion and the child here will be returned to his existence."

"No!" screamed Voldemort but it was suddenly cut off as the silencing charm was replaced.

"I trust you will explain what has occurred" the Archangel of Death said to the very pale but hopeful Draco Malfoy before him. "And tell my Harry I expect him not to come to me again. When the time comes, I will come for him and he is to make sure that it is only after he has had a very long and happy life. Will you do that for me, Draco?"

"Yes, I promise and thank you." Draco managed to mutter out.

"We will meet again Draco Malfoy when your time has come. And I will take you to what lies beyond." The Archangel of Death replied.

"When…" Draco began to ask but the Archangel of Death placed his finger on Draco's lips stilling the question.

"Only Death knows… and he does not forewarn!" the Archangel of Death told Draco and with that the Archangel of Death and the orb were gone and Draco found all himself surrounded by people screaming out various combinations of words like "No you cannot…" but they all stopped when they saw the empty space where the Archangel of Death had stood. Everyone in the hall looked at Draco.

"He took You-know-who instead" Draco managed before he passed out and fell to the ground.

Snape rushed to his side and everyone else suddenly looked at the area where the orb had hung.

"Headmaster!" a quite voice said in the still of that pause.

Albus Dumbledore turned back at the sound of that familiar voice and stared in wonder at the sight of Harry Potter sitting up in his coffin with a puzzled look on his face.

"Headmaster!" Harry said, "Quirrel has the stone. You must stop him"

"HARRY!" the word was shouted by one and all. It took a long time for the chaos that followed to be brought under control but eventually order was restored somewhat.

Harry found it a very confusing time. Lots of people hugged him, most of whom he did not know. Ron and Hermione refused to take their eyes off him and the noise of so many voices was deafening.

"Harry, don't you want to get out of that coffin?" Albus Dumbledore said over the noise.

Harry blushed and replied hesitantly "these robes I'm wearing tie in the back. If I get out everyone will see my bottom!" Harry blushed to a red the same shade as the Weasley's hair. 

Albus Dumbledore roared with laughter. "A very practical point Harry, as always!" 

~*~

Soon Harry was safely in the hospital ward bed without having exposed his backside to all and sundry. Madam Pomfrey had examined him and pronounced that he was in perfect health for someone who was suppose to be dead. 

Many others were there too; Ron and Hermione at the side of his bed refusing to follow Madam Promfrey's order to leave which luckily the headmaster talked her out of enforcing. Snape had carried an unconscious Draco Malfoy in and laid him in a bed on the other side of the ward. The entire Weasley clan were there, judging by their red hair and Mrs Weasley's fussing over them. As well as two men who stood as if supporting each other. Their eyes never left Harry for a second.

"Headmaster, What is going on?" Harry asked.

Albus Dumbledore conjured a comfortable chair and sat down. "I think I should be as comfortable as possible, for this is a very long tale." And he began filling Harry in on what had happened over the last week.

_{A/N: Epilogue to come and then I'm done! With this story at least.}_


	16. Epilogue

_A/N: I am finally finished this rotten epilog! Well I hope you don't think its rotten, it was just very difficult to do. I wrote three different ones and did not like them, so I finally combined them (hence the length) and this is the result. Enjoy!_

**Chapter 16 - Epilogue.**

It was dark and quiet in the hospital wing when Draco finally awoke. At first he wondered where he was and then his memory began to awaken as well.

"Oh Merlin!" he exclaimed aloud. "I'm not dead!"

"Ditto!" a voice replied. It was a voice Draco knew only too well.

"Potter, is that you?" Draco gasped.

"So it would seem." Harry replied from across the room.

"Exactly which you are you, if you know what I mean?" Draco asked.

There was a moment of silence before the reply came, "I guess I'm the me who was very surprised to wake up in a coffin and be told I had defeated Voldemort and his deatheaters and saved the wizarding world, only to commit suicide. If you know what I mean?"

"No more superpowers then?" Draco asked.

"Not if you don't count the coming back from the dead thing!" Harry snorted. "So which Draco Malfoy are you? The annoying Slytherin or the one who was willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of a rival?"

"There's only one of me Potter." Draco replied dryly.

"I thought the same about myself but apparently I was wrong." Harry replied and both boys fell into a quiet contemplation of the others words. Finally Harry broke the silence, "Why did you do it?"

At first there was only silence. "Ah... Well it's complicated." Draco finally began. "I came to see my godfather."

"Your godfather?" Harry interrupted.

"Snape!" Draco replied, "I had to see him about Mother. She is not well. My father seems to have had her under a mind control curse for a long time and now he is no longer magical, thanks to you… or the other you I should say. Mother is not doing very well."

Draco paused for a few moments before starting again. "I had just arrived in the Great Hall when the Archangel of Death appeared. When he talked about the sacrifice and so many people offered themselves and were rejected, I just sort of knew that if I offered he would accept. I guess I thought the world doesn't need me but it needs you... or the other you..." Draco's word faltered, "Anyway I just did it and that's an end to it."

"I guess I owe you..." Harry replied but Draco cut him off.

"You don't owe me anything, Potter!" Draco replied angrily. "I did it for the other you, if you want to know. He's the one that wanted to be my friend, not you! He's the one that gave away the lead in the house cup for me. If you grow up into him, come and talk to me then. In the mean time, just shut it!"

Harry waited a while before talking again. "What was he really like, this other me?"

"You… He was different. Powerful, oh yes! The most powerful wizard ever but he sort of made you feel ok in a strange way. I mean he could destroy the universe and everything but when he spoke to you it was as if you mattered… I not doing a very good job of describing him, am I?"

"Sounds like you liked this other me?" Harry replied.

"Well, in a way… I suppose… " Draco muttered and then after a long pause, "Do you think you'll be like that in the future?"

"I don't know…" Harry replied slowly, "He just sounded scary when the others talked about him. I'm glad you told me he was nice in a way. I hope I can be like that at least; especially now I don't have some homicidal dark wizard trying to kill me. I doubt I'll have any superpowers through. The headmaster said most of that was a result of the constant war. That won't happen now…"

"Good! You... He was pretty scary too." Draco replied.

"I guess this is going to make the whole boy-who-lived thing even worse. I'll be the boy-who-lived-fought-a war-came-back-in-time-saved-the-world-then-died-then-lived-again or something to that effect." Harry said grimly.

"Something like that!" Draco snorted, "Oh and I have a message for you from the Archangel of Death. He said to tell you to stop bothering him by dying all the time. He said he's not going to shove you back into this world again and if you're not really old the next time you die, you will be in big trouble! Or words to that effect."

"Merlin!" Harry exclaimed. "I still can't believe that whole Archangel of Death thing was real."

"Believe it Potter, he is the realist thing you could every meet. I'd do what he said if I were you." Draco replied.

Silence rained again between the boys until they both fell into a restless sleep. When Harry awoke, it was a bright morning with sun streaming in through the hospital wings windows. The bed Draco had occupied the night before was empty.

"About time you woke up" Ron's voice announced.

Harry groped for his glasses and after he had them on, he saw Ron and Hermione sitting against the far wall.

"Ron! He's every reason to sleep." Hermione told her companion angrily.

"Yeah! Yeah! He's had enough lying around." Ron continued.

Hermione ignored him and asked Harry in an anxious tone "How are you feeling Harry?"

"I'm fine Hermione" Harry replied with a smile on his face. Being with his two best friends always cheered him up. "Ron's right! I have had enough lying around for a while. Do you think you could find me some robes to wear?"

"What's wrong with these" Ron said indicating the black robes Harry had been wearing the night before. 

"RON! They're death robes for goodness sake." Hermione yelled. "Go and get Harry some clothes from your dormitory. NOW!"

"OK No need to yell. I ain't deaf you know." Ron complained as he headed out the door. "Be back in a few minutes Harry"

Madam Pomfrey swept into the hospital wing a little while later, just as Harry was finishing dressing. "And where do you think you are going?" she said in her most matronly voice.

"Well I just thought... " Harry said.

"Well you can think again. You are not going anywhere till I have examined you again." Madam Pomfrey stated.

"But I'm fine really..." Harry complained.

"Oh yes, you're just fine. I mean it's not as if you had anything serious. Just a little touch of death." Madam Promfrey's voice dripped sarcasm as she ranted on, all the while beginning to wave her wand for the examination.

Harry just had to stand there and let her get on with it. Soon every possible scan and test was completed and Madam Pomfrey reluctantly had to let Harry and his friends go but with some words of warning. "Mr. Potter, in all my years as school nurse I have never had a first year student spend so much time in this wing. And certainly no student who has died and recovered. Be warned young man, I will not stand for any such nonsense next year. Now off with you and your friends before I have a complete nervous breakdown."

Harry and his friends ran laughing out the door.

"Where are we going?" Hermione asked as she followed the two boys through the school.

"Do you think there is any breakfast left in the Great Hall? I'm staving!" Harry said.

"Yeah, I guess." Ron said.

The three friends were soon entering the familiar hall, which was now back to normal after the funeral.

"Ah and here they are now..." Professor Dumbledore said as the three walked up the hall. Beside Dumbledore stood Mr. and Mrs. Weasley beaming smiles at the three young people.

"We have just been having a little chat about you." Dumbledore said as his eyes twinkled merrily away at Harry.

"Harry, how would you like to come and stay at our house for a while?" Mrs. Weasley asked.

"Oh yeah! Harry, you can share my room!" Ron exclaimed happily.

"Won't the Dursleys be expecting me, Professor?" Harry said frowning.

"You let me worry about the Dursleys, Harry!" Dumbledore replied, eyes twinkling madly.

"Well, if I wouldn't be too much trouble, I would really like to." Harry said brightly.

"Well go and get your trunks and we'll be off." Mr. Weasley said, "We'll all have breakfast at home." Their hunger forgotten for the moment, the three friends ran up to the Gryffindor Tower for their trunks and were soon off to the Burrow thanks to a portakey Professor Dumbledore had made from of all things, the house cup."

Ron looked on the cup where the names of the winning houses were engraved and seeing both Gryffindor's and Slytherin's name sharing equal place below this years date, he said to his best friend, 'Harry, what were you thinking!"

"Just remember to bring it back with you in September!" Dumbledore said as they departed.

========================

_A Few Days Later:_

"Ron, Ginny, you run along outside to play. Your father and I would like a little chat with Harry. Alone!" Molly Weasley announced one morning after breakfast. Everyone knew it was not a request. Arguments would not be tolerated so they left Harry to his fate.

"Have I done something wrong?" Harry asked.

"No dear. You have been the prefect guest. My children could all learn some manners from the example you have set. No, we want to talk to you about you no longer being a guest here."

"You want you to leave!!!" Harry replied shocked.

"No! No!" Mrs Weasley replied hurriedly. "I'm not explaining this very well. Arthur you do it."

"Yes dear" Mr Weasley replied and turning to Harry said, " No, Harry we don't want you to leave, we just want you to no longer consider yourself a guest here. We want you to consider this your home. One of the family so to speak."

"That's very kind of you Mr and Mrs Weasley" Harry replied, "I love it here with you all but I'll have to go back to the Dursley's soon."

"Actually you don't, if you don't wish to." Mr Weasley stated to Harry's surprise. "The headmaster has contacted your Aunt and she is quite willing to give you up, if any can be found to take you in. And we are more than willing to do that!"

"You are?" Harry said surprised, "I mean permanently?"

"Of course," Mr Weasley replied, "And we are not the only ones…"

"Arthur!" Mrs Weasley exclaimed to her husband.

"No Molly! Harry has the right to make an informed decision about this!" Mr Weasley told his red-faced wife. "Harry, many people want to look after you, after what you have done for the wizarding world. I believe the number of formal requests for custody at the ministry has exceeded two thousand."

"But Mr Weasley, that wasn't me. That was the other me… the one from the future." Harry replied shocked.

"We know Harry. That's why I think you should stay with us. But it is up to you. Anyway there's no reason to make the decision now. Tonight at dinner you can meet some of the others wanting custody and then decide."

"Tonight!" Harry exclaimed, "They're all coming tonight!"

"Not all two thousand," Mr Weasley clarified, "just the ones which Dumbledore thinks suitable for you to choose from. Even the Longbottoms are going to be here. Curious how they recovered the very night of the feast? I wonder… Well never mind, your godmother is anxious to see you."

I have a godmother?" Harry asked surprised.

"Well yes, Alice Longbottom! Didn't you know?

"No, no one ever told me I had a godmother." Harry replied.

"Well at least you know about your godfather." Mr Weasley replied.

"I have a godfather too?" Harry asked with a puzzled expression.

"Oh Merlin!" Mr Weasley replied.

"Arthur, language!" Mrs Weasley complained.

"I'm sorry dear but something is very wrong here." Mr Weasley replied and then turning to Harry asked, "Harry hasn't anyone told you about Sirius Black?"

"He was the man the other me freed from prison. Professor Dumbledore told me." Harry said thoughtfully.

Mr Weasley gave his wife a meaningful look and then said to Harry "I think we had better have a long talk Harry. A very long talk!"

========================

"Harry, you have some visitors!" Mrs Weasley's strained sounding voice carried up the stairs of the burrow.

"Visitors! Who would be visiting me?" Harry asked Ron as they hurried down the stairs.

The boys entered the kitchen to find Remus Lupin and Sirius Black sitting at the kitchen table. Sirius Black's face instantly lost its haunted look as it crinkled into a broad smile as he stared at Harry. Remus Lupin also smiled as he regarded young Harry.

"You know it's like seeing your father again although you definitely have your mother's eyes." Remus said.

"Ummm… People have said that before." Harry replied.

Sirius Black suddenly gave a bark of a laugh that startled everyone in the kitchen. "Sorry!" he croaked, "I just had to see you again, to be sure it was real." He then began to cry.

"Sirius, it's all right." Remus said patting his friend on the back. "What must you think of us, Harry? Coming here and acting like this but it does seem like a dream or a nightmare that we could not wake from until now. So please forgive Sirius's sudden emotional swings. He has a long recovery from Azkaban ahead of him."

"That's alright sir." Harry replied smiling kindly towards the two men.

"Please call us Remus and Sirius, Harry." Remus said smiling back at the boy. "After all we were your father best friends.

"Ummm Remus, could I ask you a question. " Harry said looking shyly hopeful.

"Of course you can. Ask me anything at all!" Remus replied.

"What were my parents like? I mean everyone tells me I look like my father except for my mother's eyes but other than that…" Harry shrugged as he finished.

Both men were shocked. "Well" Remus replied after a few moments. "I guess we had better start at the beginning. I first met you father and Sirius on the train to Hogwarts in my first year."

"We played a prank on him!" Sirius interjected smiling again.

"That was you two?" Remus replied.

Sirius laughed again with the now familiar barking sound and was soon joined by the giggles of Harry and Ron. The afternoon wore on as the two men told young Harry everything they remembered of his father and his mother, often to the amusement of everyone.

========================

Dinner was a lively, if somewhat tense affair. There were so many people that the dinner was held on long tables in the field behind the house. But the food was up to Mrs. Weasley's usual excellent standard. Sirius Black did not eat much but each small spoonful of food he treated with great care and as he placed it in his mouth, a look of almost sensual joy appeared on his face. After 11 years in Azkaban prison being force-fed gruel, Molly Weasley's cooking was ambrosia. In his weakened condition, he just couldn't deal with too much of it, too soon.

The Longbottoms had arrived to be greeted with a cheer from most of those present. Neville looked hyper as he raced about introducing his parents. Harry greeted Alice Longbottom politely and she hugged him warmly. Frank Longbottom asked about Quidditch and wondered if Neville had a shot at the team next session. Neville looked about ready to faint at the thought of having to ride a broom ever again. Harry tried not to laugh. The Longbottoms were a very nice couple but Harry didn't know them and in the end the Longbottoms sadly realised this too. Harry would not be choosing them as his future guardians but they offered him their support in any endeavour he undertook.

The guests had just started desert when two new arrivals walked out of the house, obviously just having flued in. Professor Severus Snape walked up and deposited a number of potion bottles in front of Remus Lupin.

"Madam Promfrey asked me to deliver the restorative potions for Black. They are freshly brewed and are at their peak potency. I made several extra in case you wished to use some yourself Lupin. Being cured of being a werewolf seems to have had its impact on you as well. I will brew more next week should you require them. I suggest Black takes them without delay before they deteriorate." Snape said directly to Remus.

"You know I am right here!" Sirius said in an angry hoarse voice.

"I am all too aware of that fact, Black!" Snape sneered in return.

"Oh grow up both of you!" Remus snapped, surprising many. "Sirius, Severus was kind enough to brew these potions for you and deliver them personally, not to mention saving Harry's life this year. I think a thank you is in order." Remus said forcefully to his surprised friend. "And you Severus, I know what eats at you, what James and Sirius did. Haven't they more than paid for the arrogance of youth? Can't you make your peace with them and with yourself now."

Not many people had every daunted Severus Snape and Sirius Black before and never at the same time but Remus Lupin had managed it that night. "Now I want both of you to shake hands." And they did, if somewhat briefly.

"Professor," Mrs. Weasley asked, "have you eaten? I'll get a plate of food for you. We just need to find you somewhere to sit."

"Madam, I have no wish to intrude…" Professor Snape said somewhat taken aback by the fussing of his host.

"Nonsense, and who is that with you?" Mrs. Weasley said peering into the shadows by the back door that the person accompanying Professor Snape, had concealed themselves in.

"Mr. Malfoy and I will eat later. We have yet to find lodging for the night but I am sure..." Professor Snape was trying to get away from Mrs. Weasley.

"Nonsense, no one leaves my house hungry, young man! SIT!" Mrs. Weasley commanded. "You too dear. Sit over there with the other children while I get you a plate of food." Molly said to a surprised Draco Malfoy.

"Mum just called Snape, young man." Fred sniggered to his twin.

Snape frowned but he was certainly hungry and the smell of the food was driving him crazy. He beckoned Draco towards the table and sat down on the edge of the table next to Remus as Molly Weasley placed a plate of food in front of him.

Draco edged uncertainly towards the other end of the table where the younger ones had been seated. He was staving and the food did smell good. Molly Weasley, a plate piled high with food in one hand, used her other hand to push Draco forward.

"Budge up everyone! We have one more to fit in." she said pleasantly to the other young guests.

Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ginny and the twins all moved up to make room at the table for Draco to sit. Ron however, glared and stayed perfectly still blocking everyone's progress. Molly Weasley was not one to be defied especially by one of her own. She gave Ron a glare back that caused the boy to pale and give in instantly. Ron shifted his chair to make room for Draco Malfoy to sit down. Which he did, between Hermione Granger and Ron Weasley and directly across the table from Harry Potter. He was surrounded! And he knew it!

"Better eat up before the food gets cold." Harry said without any hostility. Draco was soon concentrating on eating the excellent food in front of him. Conversations had restarted around the table. Draco was just not expecting having to take part.

"So Draco, why are you with Professor Snape?" Hermione Granger asked. Draco froze with a fork of food halfway to his mouth.

"You don't have to answer if it's personal or anything. I was just curious." Hermione said after she saw the startled look on Draco's face before he changed it to his usual expression of disinterest.

"He's my godfather. I'll be staying with him this summer while my mother is in…" Draco said falteringly.

"St Mungo's" Neville finished for the boy.

"Yes." Draco responded.

"I saw you there yesterday when I was waiting for my parents examination to be finished." Neville said quietly.

Draco's mother had been held under his father's imperio curse for a long time. In fact, Draco suspected for the entire time of their marriage, if not longer. Now Lucius Malfoy was without magic and was being held for questioning by the ministry, the curse was lifted but it was too late. All that remained of Draco's mother's mind was destroyed. Draco doubted his mother would ever be able to function as a normal independent person again.

Draco waited for the derision to begin. "Draco mother's in St Mungo's", "Draco mother's a nutter". But it did not come. In fact, what he got was not derision or even pity but understanding from the last person he ever expected.

"I'm sure she will be alright." Neville Longbottom said, "My parents were in the same ward for years and they looked after them very well. They're fine now. I sure your mother will be all right eventually too, Draco. Never give up hope. I never did and neither should you!"

There were murmurs of agreement around the table from all that had heard.

"So you'll be staying at Hogwarts?" Harry asked.

"No, the board of Governors doesn't permit any students to stay over the summer." Draco said just before everyone's attention was diverted by Professor Dumbledore tapping his glass for silence.

"I just have a quick few words to say. First let me thank our hosts for this wonderful meal." Dumbledore said, pausing for people expressing agreement to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley.

"A shadow has been lifted from our world at long last." Dumbledore continued, "but it was not without great cost. I ask you to raise your glasses in a toast to their memory. To Lily and James Potter and all the other victims of Voldemort. To Absent Friends!"

The guests stood and raising their glasses they spoke many different names of those who passed fighting against Voldemort.

After everyone had regained their seats, Professor Dumbledore continued, "That brings us to the real purpose of tonight's gathering, helping young Harry decide who will be his future guardians. I believe at last count there were over two and a half thousand applications for guardianship submitted at the Ministry. I believe even Doris Crockford put one in! Well Harry, do you have any ideas about who you would like to live with?"

The entire gathering turned their attention to young Harry who squirmed under their gazes.

"Well I am a bit puzzled why so many people want to be my guardians." Harry said sincerely but most people laughed as if it were a joke. "I would be honoured for any of you to be my guardians. I just don't know how to choose."

"Just pick Mum and Dad, Harry and then you can just continue to share my bedroom!" Ron said as if that would be all tat was needed.

Harry saw the look of hope on Mrs. Weasley's face and the look of fear on the faces of many of the others at the table.

"Harry " Remus said kindly, "Sirius and I want to fulfil our oaths to your parents and look after you but if you would be happier with the Weasleys… We will understand.." Remus said but was unable to continue. Sirius looked horrified at his friend. His hands shaking and eyes teary, he looked about ready to break down. Harry was by his side in an instant hugging the man's shoulders. Harry gave Mr. and Mrs. Weasley an imploring look and they nodded their heads in silent agreement.

"Sirius don't cry! There's no need." Harry said putting his hand on Sirius shoulder, "I don't know how to pick who would be the best Guardian but I know that Dad would want me to help you if I could, so I think its best if I come and look after you. So you will just have to put up with me."

"Sorry Mr. and Mrs. Weasley, sorry everyone but someone needs to look after Sirius until he gets his strength back. Although where we are going to live I have no idea."

Ron had a very glum expression on his face since he realised Harry was not going to become his permanent roommate. But then a strange look crossed his face and he said, "Maybe you could buy the old Maison place."

Harry gave a questioning look towards Ron but it was Mr Weasley who took up the explanation. "Of course, the Maison property! Ron you are brilliant!" Mr Weasley exclaimed and then seeing the puzzlement of the others continued, " The Maison property is just up the road from the burrow. It backs onto the land just over there by the apple orchard. There's a big old farmhouse with lots of rooms. Bit run down of course, but nothing a bit of work won't put right. It's for sale too. Signs went up just last week. The boys were worried that a family of muggles would buy it. That would put a stop to Quidditch in the orchard. Yes and with the right wards and the squad of Aurors being stationed on the road anyway, it would be a prefect place for you to live. There still may be elements wishing you harm for recent events. We'll take a look at it in the morning and see if the three of you like it!"

"We'll be neighbours!" Mrs Weasley said thrilled at least having Harry close if not a member of the household. But she puzzled over something her husband had said. "Arthur, why would there be a squad of Aurors stationed on the road."

Mr Weasley looked panicked and said "Ah! Yes, that! I have been meaning to talk to you about that. You see, a squad of Aurors is always assigned to guard the Minister's home and… " Mr Weasley looked uncertain how to continue. "Well, I should have told you before but with the funeral and everything… I'm the new Minister of Magic see…"

"ARTHUR WEASLEY!" Mrs Weasley voice screamed so loud that people shoved their fingers in their ears to protect what was left of their hearing, "Minister! MINISTER OF MAGIC! "

"Yes dear. And of coarse that means you are First Witch." Mr Weasley said as he saw his wife was building up stream for a full-scale rant.

"First Witch, FIRST WITCH!" Mrs Weasley shrilled. "Me! FIRST WITCH!"

"Yes and you'll be responsible for all the official welcomes, diplomatic balls and charity functions." Mr Weasley continued ignoring the look of panic on his wife's face. His son's and daughter and many of the guests marvelled to see Mr Weasley's deft handling of his wife's known temper. It was not for nothing that they had been married for so long and with so many offspring. Many people learned that night there were hidden depths to Arthur Weasley.

========================

While Arthur Weasley dealt with defusing his wife, Snape finished his food and said to Remus. "Lupin, if you would be so kind to thank our hosts for me when they are less… distracted."

"You're leaving?" Remus asked in return.

"Yes, we must find lodgings… " Snape continued but was cut off.

"Why don't you stay here tonight?" a voice said.

Snape turned towards Harry Potter. "I'm sure the Weasley's won't mind and in the morning you can come with us to see the farmhouse."

"And why, Potter, would I want to do that?" Snape said incredulously.

"Well, you and Draco need somewhere to stay for the summer. If the house is as big as Mr Weasley said, there will be plenty of room for us all." Harry replied.

Snape's mouth dropped open as did Sirius's, Draco dropped his food-laden fork into his lap and there was a sudden silence all down the table as people stopped talking in order to listen.

Silence reigned until Remus began to quietly laugh. And that laugh grew until he roared with it. "Harry, you may look like your father but you are your mother's son alright. That's just the sort of unexpected behaviour she was famous for." Remus finally said over his laughter. "What do you say Severus?" Remus ignored the tugging on his elbow by Sirius.

"If you think for one moment..." Snape finally found his voice.

"An excellent suggestion" Professor Dumbledore weighed into the conversation, eyes at maximum twinkle.

"Now just a minute..." Snape replied.

"Nonsense my boy. You need a place for Draco and yourself to stay. Sirius and Remus need regular restorative potions to regain their vigour. Its a perfect solution for everyone." Dumbledore said happily.

Remus meantime was having an urgent whispered conversation with Sirius. "No Sirius I am quite serious."

"But Snape!" Sirius whispered.

"Let it go Sirius. Just let it go!" Remus said.

The arguments raged on for some time that night before both Severus Snape and Sirius Black reluctantly agreed.

========================

The next day a very confused real estate agent made a surprise sale of an old farmhouse to the strangest people he had ever met, on the condition of immediate settlement in gold coins of all things.

The ex-prisoner, the ex-werewolf, the ex-deatheater, the ex-heir and the ex-corpse all stood before their new house.

Draco was the first to speak. "When are the servants coming to clean it up?" he asked. The other four looked at him in surprise.

"Servants!" Harry snorted, "You don't get it, do you Draco? The only ones who are going to get the work done are us! Where do you want to start, inside or out?"

"You can't be serious!" Draco replied appalled.

"He is quite serious Draco." Snape replied calmly. "I suggest we start on the inside first. The outside can wait till we are settled in."

"I get the front bedroom!" Harry declared.

"That's the one I wanted!" Draco complained.

"Race you for it!" Harry said as he bolted towards the house with Draco soon in pursuit.

"Children!" Snape exclaimed darkly.

"Quite so, Severus." Remus Lupin replied but he began to edge towards the house at the same time. Sirius quickly released what Remus was doing and ran for the house as fast as he could manage yelling, "Last man there's a rotten egg!"

"Really!" Severus exclaimed, "This is too much!" but as he said that a small smirk formed on his lips and he disparated. He reappeared at the top of the stairs inside the house just as Harry and Draco entered the front door.

"The front bedroom is mine I think!" Snape said smugly.

"Hey! That's cheating." Sirius protested as he came in panting at the effort of the short run.

"Nonsense. It is simple a matter of brain instead of brawn." Severus said as he walked into his new bedroom.

"I get the back bedroom then" Harry yelled as he bolted up the stairs.

"I wanted that one!" Draco shouted in pursuit.

Remus laughed and said, "Welcome to the madhouse!" and the name stuck.

========================

The rest of the summer passed at the madhouse, as the farmhouse became known to one and all, in a blaze of cleaning, repairing, and painting. The five residents had lots of help from their red headed neighbours especially after Mr Weasley discovered the farmhouse was still connected to muggle services like the electricity and the telephone. Harry talked his guardians into buying a big television set and in the evenings the entire lounge room was filled to capacity as the people of the wizard world learned of this muggle gadget.

By the time Draco and Harry received their Hogwarts letters addressed to the Madhouse, the old farmhouse had taken on a very comfortable ambience and its surrounds where almost unrecognizable from the wild overgrown weed choked beds and hedges that had existed at the time of the sale. And as unlikely as it seemed, the residents of the Madhouse had all learned to get along relatively well. Well, in so much as no one had actually died yet, although it had come close several times. But in the end a sort of truce was developed. It was not perfect but it worked.

The only thing that worried several of the residents now was what would happen when Harry returned to Hogwarts. Draco and Severus would be there as well but that would leave Sirius and Remus alone again for most of the year. But the solution presented itself with the arrival of a very sun tanned Professor Dumbledore dressed in the most outrageous Hawaiian shirt, baggy shorts and sandals.

"Albus, what on earth." Snape said as he greeted him at the front door.

"Ah yes. Just got back from holiday, Minerva insisted. Seems to think I needed it after everything."

"Welcome to the Madhouse." Severus said sneering.

Albus Dumbledore eyes danced with delight. "I had heard of the name. Excellent choice I must say. Where is everyone!" the headmaster replied jovially.

"Ah Professor" Sirius said coming into the entrance hall. He was starting to look like his old self. The wild hair and beard were gone and his eyes held some life in them again. "Why has old misery guts left you standing in the doorway? Come in Come in!" Sirius said brushing past a growling Snape.

Remus chose that moment to make his presence known by loudly clearing his throat. Professor Snape's hand dropped from his wand as he saw Lupin's icy stare.

"I will remind you both of the terms of the current house rules. No insults and no duelling." Remus directed towards his housemates. "Albus good to see you looking so…" Remus started to tell the headmaster but was interrupted by the screams of two young boys.

"NO! DON'T" Draco's voice yelled.

"WHY NOT!" Harry's yelled back as they came running into the Hall.

"Must you yell!" Snape complained.

"Yep!" Harry said cheekily to everyone's amusement except Snape's. "Professor Dumbledore, you're here!" Harry said seeing the headmaster, "Great shirt Professor!"

"Why thank you Harry." Dumbledore replied pleased with the praise and then, seeing a blond head peering from behind Snape, he said "And Draco how are you?"

"AH.. Fine thanks." Draco replied.

"Actually, I wonder if I might borrow young Harry for a little chat." Dumbledore asked and seeing no dissention continued. "Perhaps we might go for a short walk Harry."

Harry and the Professor were soon walking up the small hill overlooking the house and adjoining apple orchard. They reached the top of the hill and Harry sat down on one of the logs lying on the ground.

"It is a nice view of the Weasley's house from up here on the hill but my time of sitting on hard logs and rocks has long past, so if you don't mind…" Dumbledore said as he transfigured a large log into a floral armchair.

"It was nice of you to come and visit Headmaster." Harry replied.

"It is my pleasure, Harry." Dumbledore said as he sat down in the armchair. "In fact I have been wondering how you are all getting along."

"Great, Professor." Harry said.

"No problems at all, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, eyes twinkling.

"Well it's noisy at times." Harry replied slowly. "But in a good way. It just takes getting use too, I guess."

"Yes, I expect a noisy household is something you aren't use to, having grown up with the Dursley's." Dumbledore said kindly. "Other than all the yelling."

"And it's just… Remus and Sirius are fussing over me like Aunt Petunia always does with Dudley." Harry said. "I'm not sure if I like that."

"They are just trying to show they care for you." Dumbledore said. "And after all those years in your Aunt and Uncles less than tender care, you do deserve a bit of spoiling. It seems I had greatly underestimated the contempt they have for the wizarding world. I am sorry that I ever placed you with them Harry."

"Its all right Professor. You fixed things so I don't have to go back now." Harry replied.

"Yes well as long as you don't become really spoiled like your cousin." The Professor said smiling again at the boy beside him.

"You don't need to worry about that, Professor. Uncle Sev thinks I need more discipline in my life." Harry replied rolling his eyes. "He keeps coming up with more rules for me but Uncle Remus and Uncle Sirius make him apply them to Draco too, so that's okay."

The Professor laughed loudly, "Uncle Sev?" he asked when he could stop laughing.

"Yeah well, the other two asked if I would call them Uncle and I thought, why not all three." Harry said and then smiling wickedly said, "It drives Uncle Sev crazy. I just have to call him Professor Snape when we get back to school. But you know, I might just slip every now and then!" and then Harry winked at the Professor.

Professor Dumbledore laughed again. "You are an extraordinary young man Harry Potter. A real credit to your parents!"

"Thank you, Headmaster. That means a lot to me!" Harry replied. "So how was your holiday Professor. Where did you get that shirt?"

"Alas except for the shirt, my holiday was somewhat disappointing. Hawaii has changed so much since my last visit and all those I knew there at one time have passed. But I suppose it has been over a hundred years, so some change is to be expected." Dumbledore replied musing on his long memory. "But now I'm back and there is lots to do. I have yet to find a replacement for the Defence against the Dark Arts position. I'm sorry my boy I didn't mean to stir up any unpleasant memories for you."

"That's alright Professor." Harry replied, "Have you thought about asking Remus? I think he'd be great as a Professor. And maybe Sirius could help too. I am worried what will happen to them if they stay here alone. If they become Professors, they will be at Hogwarts with us and we can keep an eye on them.".

"I hadn't thought about… but now Remus is no longer… and Sirius has been exonerated… Yes!" Dumbledore muttered to himself while considering what Harry had suggested. He stopped and gave Harry a twinkled look again. "I will ask them both straight away, Harry. It was a brilliant suggestion."

"Great Professor!" Harry replied grinning, "Of course you know, Uncle Sev is going to have kittens when he finds out!"

"Yes but I think it will be good for him to have all his family with him at Hogwarts too." Professor Dumbledore replied grinning.

"I guess we are like a family now. A very strange family but its better than…" Harry said thoughtfully.

"The Dursleys?" Dumbledore anticipated Harry's thoughts. After a few moments of silence he continued. "Now speaking of the Dursleys and specifically your Aunt. She has sent me a message asking if you could come back to Privet Drive."

Harry looked panicked. "I don't have to go back there to live now!"

"Just for a visit, Harry." Dumbledore replied.

"I believe your friend Ronald is trying to attract your attention!" Dumbledore said as his eyes, still madly twinkling spotted the young redhead walking up the hill towards them.

"HARRY!" Ron's voice bellowed. "I've been looking all over for you." Ron said as he reached the top of the hill. "We're getting quidditch sides together… Oh hello Professor Dumbledore Sir!"

"Hello Mister Weasley, well I mustn't stand in the way of quidditch. You run along Harry and enjoy yourself. I think I walk back to the house and see how your three Uncles are getting on."

"Ron I'll be down in a few minutes. Get Draco to get my Firebolt and I'll meet you at the field." Harry said.

Ron looked puzzled and said "Firebolt?"

"My broom Ron. It's in my room. Draco will know where. I'll meet you at the field." Harry replied quickly. "Professor, why would my Aunt want me to visit? It's not as if she has ever enjoyed my company before."

"I believe Harry that after almost a year without your company but with the uninterrupted company of her husband and her son, she may be looking upon you with more respect than previously. Anyway she has said she has a number of items of your mothers to give to you when you visit, so perhaps you should consider it."

"I don't know…" Harry replied in deep thought over this unexpected request.

Professor Dumbledore regarded Harry James Potter without the customary twinkles in his eyes. The headmaster's eyes were sharp and piercing.

"Is there a problem Professor?" Harry said innocently seeing the look on the old mans face.

Dumbledore paused and then said in a conversational tone "You know Harry, I have a great many interests many people are unaware of. One of those is broom design. After watching you this year in your Quidditch matches, I was inspired to design a new type of broom. One suited to the seeker's role. The good people at the Nimbus broom company are quite excited about the first prototype and insisted I name it. Thinking of you, I originally thought of naming it "the lightening bolt" but realized that would be a little too obvious a connection with you, so do you know what I changed it too, Harry?"

"I have a feeling I do, Professor." Harry replied.

"The Firebolt! So how would you happen to know a name of a broom that is not yet public knowledge, Harry?" The professor said intently, "Its you, isn't it. The you from the future. You are still here!"

"Yes Albus, it's me. I'm still here, Merlin knows why but I'm still here. He's here as well though, the twelve year old me too. We are sort of together in this body. It's very confusing. " Harry shrugged.

"That is most unexpected. We will have to consider carefully what we do now." Dumbledore said with a thoughtfully look on his face.

"I already have, Albus" Harry replied and then said one more word, "Oblivion!" as he waved his hand over the headmaster's head.

Albus Dumbledore's face changed to a blank expression for a moment and then one of confusion.

"Professor, I have to go now to meet the others for quidditch. Thank you for coming and telling me about my Aunt's message, Sir!"

"What? Oh yes! My pleasure Harry! My pleasure! You run along now." Dumbledore replied

"Don't forget to ask Remus and Sirius about teaching Defence, Professor!" Harry continued.

"No! No! I'll do that right away." Dumbledore stated as he rose from his chair and transfigured it back into a log and stumbled down the hill and away from Harry Potter.

Harry Potter stood for a moment watching the confused old man walk away. Harry had a self-satisfied expression on his face and a little half smile.

"And just exactly what do you think you are doing?" a voice said behind Harry making him jump. He spun around ready to throw two fireballs he had quickly conjured but stopped dead when he saw who it was behind him.

"Oh! It's you!" Harry said to the Archangel of Death.

"Yes, it's me." The Archangel replied as his void filled eye sockets bore into Harry.

"How long have you been listening." Harry said somewhat defensively.

"Must I remind you that time is of little relevance to me." The Archangel said. "And do get rid of those fireballs. They would have been utterly useless against me anyway."

Harry, with a wave of his hand, banished the fireballs. "So basically you are going to be watching me all the time?" Harry asked with the annoyance plain on his face.

"You can proceed on that basis!" the Archangel said with what appeared like amusement on his face. "Now stop stalling and answer my question. Just exactly what do you think you are doing to the old man?"

"Well he was about to interfere in my life once more and knowing him, he would have cocked it up again." Harry replied.

"And you prefer to cock it up yourself?" the archangel said.

"Something like that." Harry said now somewhat mollified in his anger. "I'll have to be more careful not to let anything slip like that again. It was stupid of me. I should have remembered that I didn't get the Firebolt for another 2 years."

"Your twelve year old self would not have made that mistake." The Archangel said.

"That's right I wouldn't" Harry said nodding.

"Quiet you! The grown-ups are talking." Harry replied to himself. The two personalities in the same body was making the conversation somewhat schizophrenic.

"Why didn't you let him deal with the old man? It is his rightful time after all and he deserves his chance. You can just withdraw to the back of his mind and observe for now." The Archangel responded.

"Yeah, you tell him!" young Harry said.

"He's just a kid! Dumbledore would have seen straight through him." Older Harry replied.

"And you did such a great job? At least, I know what model my broom is." young Harry cut in.

"Its not a problem, the headmaster won't remember a thing." Older Harry said.

"If your younger self had handled things, the headmaster would have only seen what he expected: A twelve year old boy with a twelve year's old dream of a loving family. But you instead shoved the boy aside. Bit of a control freak, aren't you!" the Archangel observed coldly.

"I am what I grew up to be and part of that is your fault. What the hell were you thinking when you shoved both of us in here?" Harry said getting angry again.

"Yeah! What were you thinking?" young Harry replied.

"Watch your tone. Both of you!" The Archangel snapped, his glare growing threatening.

Both Harry's gulped. Even the most powerful wizard the world had ever known couldn't match an angel and certainly not an Archangel and most decidedly not the bloody Archangel of Death himself. And as far as the twelve year old was concerned, he just knew this was no time to throw a Dudley like tantrum. Young Harry knew the Archangel wasn't about to give in like Aunt Petunia always did to Dudley's complaining. Both Harry's backed down with a mumbled "Sorry!"

"What I was thinking, was that you could help each other. The twelve year old can deal with growing up under much better circumstances than the older you had to injurer. The older you can be ready to deal with any little problems that might arise. The world is no longer threatened by Tom, but that does not mean all evil has been vanquished. More dark lords will arise and other evils will threaten the innocents of this world."

"So I get to play the bloody hero again, is that it?" Older Harry said sadly.

"I didn't say you had to raise another army and slaughter your way through the bad guys again. Perhaps you might try subtlety instead. Act behind the scenes and prevent trouble before it starts." Replied the Archangel. "After all, you know a great deal about the events of the next thirty years."

"And no one would have to know." Harry said thinking to himself.

"Now I really must be leaving." the Archangel said. "Oh I almost forgot your punishment!"

"PUNISHMENT!" both Harrys cried out in shock.

"Yes I believe that a punishment is in order for your misbehaviour. Oblivating the old man certainly deserves proper correction and as you are more powerful than anyone else it falls to me to administer proper correction in this matter." the Archangel said.

"I couldn't just promise not to do it again?" older Harry asked.

"NO!" the Archangel said bluntly. "Paddling your bottom would be too cliché."

"WHAT!" both Harrys responded to the idea.

The Archangel smiled menacingly at the boy in from of him and said, "Hmmm I think I have it. The prefect act of penance. Something ongoing to keep both of you in line in the future. You will agree to visit your Aunt for an entire afternoon."

"NO!" both Harrys screamed.

"Yes, and every time I have to provide punishment, the time of the visits will increase!" the Archangel said smugly.

"That's cruel, just too cruel." Both Harrys replied.

"Now off you go…: the Archangel said as he faded into the void.

"Well," young Harry stated, "you got us into this, so I'll sit back while you deal with Aunt Petunia and the others."

"I'm probably going to crack and blast the whole house to oblivion if that's the case." Older Harry replied to his younger self. "How about you help me out tomorrow and I'll show you some real good Quidditch moves. Moves no one has ever seen before."

"Mmmm, having Privet Drive blow up… " young Harry mused.

"I bet that would really tick off the Archangel" older Harry said regretfully.

"I guess we should avoid that. Okay I'll help out but only if these quidditch moves are really good." young Harry said.

"We'll start with something simple like the Wronski Feint ." older Harry replied, "You're going to love it!"

========================

And they all lived happily ever after, after all!

Well, except for Lucius Malfoy

and the other deatheaters,

and Voldemort,

and Cornelius Fudge,

and the people who made black deatheater robes,

and the makers of the masks,

and the suppliers of dark arts goods,

and a whole bunch of other people who were just miserable to begin with, hated everything about the world and saw no hope at all, even in the good times that came after the fall of the most evil and powerful Dark Lord the world had ever seen.

They are known as teenagers!

_{A/N: That's all folks!}_


End file.
